0*  THE 


I 


IN  THE 


ARCTIC   SEAS. 


A    NARRATIVE 


DISCOVERY  OP  THE  PATE  OF  SIE  JOHN  PRANKLIN 
AND  HIS  COMPANIONS, 


CAPTAIN  M'CLINTOCK,  R.N.,  LL.D. 


WITH  MAPS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 




PORTER     &    COATES, 


AITIIOU'S  EDITION 

-y  2  2  / 


DEDICATION. 


MY  DEAR  LADY  FRANKLIN, 

There  is  no  one  to  whom  I  could  with  so  much  pro 
priety  or  willingness  dedicate  my  Journal  as  to  you.  For  you 
it  was  originally  written,  and  to  please  you  it  now  appears  in 
print. 

To  our  mutual  friend,  SHERARD  OSBORN,  I  am  greatly 
obliged  for  his  kindness  in  seeing  i^  through  the  press  —  a 
labor  I  could  not  have  settled  down  to  so  soon  after  my  return; 
and  also  for  pointing  out  some  omissions  and  technicalities 
which  would  have  rendered  parts  of  it  unintelligible  to  an 
ordinary  reader.  These  kind  hints  have  been  but  partially 
attended  to,  and,  as  time  presses,  it  appears  with  the  mass  of 
its  original  imperfections,  as  when  you  read  it  in  manuscript. 
Such  as  it  is,  however,  it  affords  rne  fhis  valued  opportunity  of 
assuring  you  of  the  real  gratification  I  feel  in  having  been 
instrumental  in  accomplishing  an  object  so  dear  to  you.  To 
your  devotion  and  self-sacrifice  the  world  is  indebted  for  the 
deeply  interesting  revelation  unfolded  by  the  voyage  of  the 

'Fox.* 

Believe  me  to  be, 

With  sincere  respect,  most  faithfully  yours, 

F.  L.  M'CLINTOCK. 

London,  2Uk  Nov.,  1859. 


LIST  OF  OFFICERS  AND   SHIP'S   COMPAJSTT 
OF  THE  <  FOX.' 


F.  L.  M'CLINTOCK, 
W.  R.  HOBSON,   . 
ALLEN  W.  YOUNG, 
DAVID  WALKER,  M.D., 
GEORGE  BRANDS,   . 
CARL  PETERSEN, 
THOMAS  BLACKWELL,     , 

WM.  HARVEY,     . 
HENRY  TOMS,         .        , 
ALEX.  THOMPSON, 
JOHN  SIMMONDS,    . 
GEORGE  EDWARDS, 
ROBERT  SCOTT, 

THOMAS  GRINSTEAD 
GEORGE  HOBDAY,  . 
ROBERT  HAMPTON,     . 
JOHN  A.  HASELTON, 
GEORGE  CAREY, 
BEN.  POUND,  .         .        , 
WM.  WALTERS,  . 
WM.  JONES,    .        . 
JAMES  PITCHER, 
THOMAS  FLORANCE,    . 
RICHARD  SHINGLETON, 
ANTON  CHRISTIAN,     . 
SAMUEL  EMANUEL,     . 


Captain  R.  N. 

Lieutenant  R.  N. 

Captain,  Mercantile  Marine. 

Surgeon  and  Naturalist. 

Engineer,  died  6th  Nov.  1858,  (Apoplexy). 

Interpreter. 

Ship's     Steward,    died     14th    June,    1859, 

(Scurvy). 

Chief  Quartermaster. 
Quartermaster. 

Boatswain's  Mate. 
Carpenter's  Mate. 
Leading  Stoker,  died  4th  Dec.  1867,  (in 

consequence  of  a  fall). 
Sailmaker. 
Captain,  of  Hold. 
A.B. 


Carpenter's  Crew. 
Dog-driver. 

Stokers. 

Officers'  Steward. 

)  Greenland  Esquimaux,  discharged  in  Green 
land. 


OFFICIAL   ACKNOWLEDGMENT   OF   THE 
SERVICES  OF  THE  YACHT  'FOX/ 


ADMIRALTY,  LONDON, 

24th  Oct.  1859. 

I  am  commanded  by  my  Lords  Commissioners  of  the 
Admiralty  to  acquaint  you,  that,  in  consideration  of  the  im 
portant  services  performed  by  you  in  bringing  home  the  only 
authentic  intelligence  of  the  death  of  the  late  Sir  John  Frank 
lin,  and  of  the  fate  of  the  crews  of  the  '  Erebus '  and  '  Terror,' 
Her  Majesty  has  been  pleased,  by  her  order  in  Council  of  the 
22nd  instant,  to  sanction  the  time  during  which  you  were  ab 
sent  on  these  discoveries  in  the  Arctic  Regions,  viz.,  from  the 
30th  June,  1857,  to  the  21st  September,  1859,  to  reckon  as 
time  served  by  a  captain  in  command  of  one  of  Her  Majesty's 
ships,  and  my  Lords  have  given  the  necessary  directions  ac 
cordingly. 

I  am,  Sir, 

Your  very  humble  servant, 

W.  G.  ROMAINE, 

Secretary  to  the  Admiralty. 
Captain  Francis  L.  M'Clintock,  R.N. 


PREFACE. 


THE  following  narrative  of  the  bold  adventure 
which  has  successfully  revealed  the  last  discoveries  and 
the  fate  of  Franklin,  is  published  at  the  request  of 
the  friends  of  that  illustrious  navigator.  The  gallant 
M' Clintock,  when  he  penned  his  journal  amid  the 
Arctic  ices,  had  no  idea  whatever  of  publishing  it; 
and  yet  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  reader  will 
peruse  with  the  deepest  interest  the  simple  tale  of  how, 
in  a  little  vessel  of  170  tons  burthen,  he  and  his  well- 
chosen  companions  have  cleared  up  this  great  mystery. 

To  the  honor  of  the  British  nation,  and  also  let  it 
be  said  to  that  of  the  United  States  of  America,  many 
have  been  the  efforts  made  to  discover  the  route  fol 
lowed  by  our  missing  explorers.  The  highly  deserv 
ing  men  who  have  so  zealously  searched  the  Arctic 
seas  and  lands  in  this  cause  must  now  rejoice,  that 
after  all  their  anxious  toils,  the  merit  of  rescuing  from 
the  frozen  North  the  record  of  the  last  days  of  Frank 
lin,  has  fallen  to  the  share  of  his  noble-minded  widow. 

Lady  Franklin  has,  indeed,  well  shown  what  a  de 
voted  and  true-hearted  English  woman  can  accom 
plish.  The  moment  that  relics  of  the  expedition  corn- 

vii 


riii  PREFACE. 

mandcd  by  her  husband  were  brought  home  (in  1854) 
by  llac,  and  tliat  she  heard  of  the  account  given  to 
him  by  the  Esquimaux  of  a  large  party  of  Englishmen 
having  been  seen  struggling  with  difficulties  on  the  ice 
near  the  rnouth  of  the  Back  or  Great  Fish  River,  she 
resolved  to  expend  all  her  available  means  (already 
much  exhausted  in  four  other  independent  expeditions) 
in  an  exploration  of  the  limited  area  to  which  the 
search  must  thenceforward  be  necessarily  restricted. 

Whilst  the  supporters  of  Lady  Franklin's  efforts 
were  of  opinion,  that  the  Government  ought  to  have 
undertaken  a  search,  the  extent  of  which  was,  for  the 
first  tine,  definitely  limited,  it  is  but  rendering  justice 
to  the  then  Prime  Minister*  to  state,  that  he  had  every 
desire  to  carry  out  the  wishes  of  the  men  of  science  f 
who  appealed  to  him,  and  that  he  was  precluded  from 
acceding  to  their  petition,  by  nothing  but  the  strongly 
expressed  opinion  of  official  authorities,  that  after  so 
many  failures  the  Government  were  no  longer  justi 
fied  in  sending  out  more  brave  men  to  encounter  fresh 
dangers  in  a  cause  which  was  viewed  as  hopeless. 
Hence  it  devolved  on  Lady  Franklin  and  her  friends 

*  Viscount  Palmerston. 

t  See  the  Memorial  (Appendix)  addressed  to  the  First  Lord  of  the 
Treasury,  headed  by  Admiral  Sir  F.  Beaufort,  General  Sabine,  and 
many  other  men  of  science,  and  which,  as  President  of  the  Royal  Geo 
graphical  Society,  I  presented  to  the  Prime  Minister  ;  and  also  the 
fipeech  of  Lord  Wrottesley,  the  President  of  the  Royal  Society,  who,  in 
the  absence  of  the  lamented  Earl  of  Ellesmere,  brought  the  subject 
earnestly  under  the  notice  of  the  House  of  Lords  on  the  18th  of  July, 
'856. 


ft  y 


PREFACE.  ix 

x 

to  be  the  sole  means  of  endeavoring  to  bring  to  light 
the  true  history  of  her  husband's  voyage  and  fate. 

Looking  to  the  list  of  Naval  worthies,  who,  during 
the  preceding  years,  had  been  exploring  the  Arctic  Re 
gions,  Lady  Franklin  was  highly  gratified  when  she 
obtained  the  willing  services  of  Captain  M'Clintock 
to  command  the  yacht  <  Fox,'  which  she  had  pur 
chased  ;  for  that  officer  had  signally  distinguished  him 
self  in  the  voyages  of  Sir  John  Ross  and  Captain 
(now  Admiral)  Austin,  and  especially  in  his  extensive 
journeys  on  the  ice  when  associated  with  Captain 
Kellett.  With  such  a  leader  she  could  not  but  en 
tertain  sanguine  hopes  of  success  when  the  fast  and 
well-adapted  little  vessel  sailed  from  Aberdeen  on  the 
1st  of  July,  1857,  upon  this  eventful  enterprise. 

Deep,  indeed,  was  the  mortification  experienced  by 
every  one  who  shared  the  feelings  and  anticipations 
of  Lady  Franklin  when  the  untoward  news  came,  in 
the  summer  of  1858,  that,  the  preceding  winter  having 
set  in  earlier  than  usual,  the  'Fox'  had  been  beset  in 
the  ice  off  Melville  Bay,  on  the  coast  of  Greenland, 
and  after  a  dreary  winter,  various  narrow  escapes,  and 
eight  months  of  imprisonment,  had  been  carried  back 
by  the  floating  ice  nearly  twelve  hundred  geographical 
miles  —  even  to  63^°  N.  lat.  in  the  Atlantic  !  See  the 
woodcut  map,  No.  1. 

But  although  the  good  little  yacht  had  been  most 
roughly  handled  among  the  ice-floes  (see  Frontispiece), 
we  were  cheered  up  by  the  information  from  Disco, 


x  PREFACE. 

that,  with  the  exception  of  the  death  of  the  engine- 
driver  in  consequence  of  a  fall  into  the  hold,  the 
crew  were  in  stout  health  and  full  of  energy,  and  that 
provided  with  sufficient  fuel  and  provisions,  a  good 
supply  of  sledging  dogs,  two  tried  Esquimaux,  and 
the  excellent  interpreter  Petersen  the  Dane,*  ample 
grounds  yet  remained  to  lead  us  to  hope  for  a  suc 
cessful  issue.  Above  all,  we  were  encouraged  by 
the  proofs  of  the  self-possession  and  calm  resolve  of 
M'Clintock,  who  held  steadily  to  the  accomplishment 
of  his  original  project;  the  more  so  as  he  had  then 
tested  and  recognized  the  value  of  the  services  of 
Lieutenant  (now  Commander)  Hobson,  his  able  sec 
ond  in  command  ;  of  Captain  Allen  Young,  his  gen 
erous  volunteer  associate ;  f  and  of  Dr.  Walker,  his 
accomplished  Surgeon. 

Despite,  however,  of  these  re-assuring  data,  many 
an  advocate  of  this  search  was  anxiously  alive  to  the 
chance  of  the  failure  of  the  venture  of  one  unassisted 
yacht,  which  after  sundry  mishaps  was  again  starting 
to  cross  Baffin's  Bay,  with  the  foreknowledge,  that 
when  she  reached  the  opposite  coast,  the  real  difficul 
ties  of  the  enterprise  were  to  commence. 

Any    such   misgivings  were    happily   illusory ;    and 

*  Since  his  return  to  Copenhagen,  Petersen  has  been  worthily  honored 
by  his  Sovereign  with  the  silver  cross  of  Dunnebrog. 
•  t  Captain  Allen  Young  of  the  merchant  marine  not  only  threw  his  ser 
vices  into  this  cause,  and  subscribed  £500  in  furtherance  of  the  expedi 
tion,  but,  abandoning  lucrative  appointments  in  command,  generous!* 
accepted  a  subordinate  post. 


PREFACE.  xi 

the  reader  who  follows  IVPClintock  across  the  "middle 
ice  "  of  Baffin's  Bay  to  Pond  Inlet,  thence  to  Beechey 
Island,  down  a  portion  of  '  Peel  Strait,  and  then 
through  the  hitherto  unnavigated  waters  of  Bellot 
Strait  in  one  summer  season,  may  reasonably  expect 
the  success  which  followed. 

-  Whilst  the  revelation  obtained  from  the  long-sought 
records,  which  were  discovered  by  Lieutenant  Hobson, 
is  most  satisfactory  to  those  who  speculated  on  the 
probability  of  Franklin  having,  in  the  first  instance, 
tried  to  force  his  way  northwards  through  Wellington 
Channel  (as  we  now  learn  he  did),  those  who  held  a 
different  hypothesis,  namely,  that  he  'followed  his 
instructions,  which  directed  him  to  the  S.  W.,  may 
be  amply  satisfied  that  in  the  following  season  the 
ships  did  pursue  this  southerly  course  till  they  were 
finally  beset  in  N.  lat.  70°  05'.* 

At  the  same  time,  the  public  should  fully  under 
stand  the  motive  which  prompted  the  supporters  of 

*  For  a  r&um£of  all  the  plans  of  research  and  the  speculations  of  sea 
men  and  geographers,  see  the  interesting  and  most  useful  volume  of  Mr. 
John  Brown,  entitled,  '  The  North- West  Passage  and  Search  after  Sir 
John  Franklin/  1858.  Iri  an  Appendix  to  this  work  we  learn,  that 
from  the  earliest  Polar  researches  hy  John  Cabot,  at  the  end  of  the  15th 
century,  to  the  voyage  of  M'Clintock,  there  have  been  about  130  expedi 
tions,  illustrated  by  250  books  and  printed  documents,  of  which  150  have 
been  issued  in  England.  Amidst  the  various  recent  publications,  it  is 
but  rendering  justice  to  Dr.  King,  the  former  companion  of  Sir  George 
Back,  to  state  that  he  suggested  and  always  maintained  the  necessity  of 
a  search  for  the  missing  navigators  at  or  near  the  mouth  of  thfi  Back 
Kiver. 


xii  PREFACE. 

Lady  Franklin  in  advocating  the  last  search.  Put 
ting  aside  the  hope  which  some  of  us  entertained,  that 
a  few  of  the  younger  men  of  the  missing  expedition 
might  still  be  found  to  be  living  among  the  Esqui 
maux,  we  had  every  reason  to  expect,  that  if  the  ships 
were  discovered,  the  scientific  documents  of  the  voy 
age,  including  valuable  magnetic  observations,  would 
be  recovered. 

In  the  absence  of  such  good  fortune  we  may,  how 
ever,  well  be  gladdened  by  the  discovery  of  that  one 
precious  document  which  gives  us  a  true  outline  of 
the  voyage  of  the  l  Erebus  '  and  '  Terror.' 

That  the  reader  may  comprehend  the  vast  extent 
of  sea  traversed  by  Franklin  in  the  two  summers 
before  his  ships  were  beset,  a  small  map  (No.  2) 
is  here  introduced  representing  all  the  lands  and 
seas  of  the  Arctic  regions  to  the  west  of  Lancaster 
Sound  which  were  known  and  laid  down  when  he 
sailed.  The  dotted  lines  and  arrows,  which  extend 
from  the  then  known  seas  and  lands  into  the  unknown 
waters  or  blank  spaces  on  this  old  map,  indicate  Frank 
lin's  route,  the  novelty,  range,  rapidity,  and  boldness 
of  which,  as  thus  delineated,  may  well  surprise  the 
geographer,  and  even  the  most  enterprising  Arctic 
sailor.*  For,  those  who  have  not  closely  attended 

*  The  letter  A  in  Baffin  Bay  (fig.  1)  indicates  the  spot  where  Franklin 
was  last  seen.  In  tig.  2,  B  is  the  winter  rendezvous  at  Bcechey  Island  ; 
C  the  greatest  northing  of  the  expedition,  viz.  77°  N.  lat. ;  Z  the  final 
beset  of  the  '  Erebus  '  and  '  Terror ; '  tho  extreme  north  and  south  points 
of  their  voyage  being  represented  by  two  small  ships. 


PREFACE.  xiii 

to  the  results  of  other  Arctic  voyages  may  be  in» 
formed,  that  rarely  has  an  expedition  in  the  first 
year  accomplished  more  by  its  ships,  than  the  estab 
lishing  of  good  winter  quarters,  from  whence  the  real 
researches  began  by  sledge-work  in  the  ensuing  spring. 
Franklin,  however,  not  only  reached  Beechey  Island, 
bat  ascended  Wellington  Channel,  then  an  unknown 
sea,  to  77°  N.  lat.,  a  more  northern  latitude  in  thia 
meridian  than  that  attained  long  afterwards  in  ships 
by  Sir  Edward  Belcher,  and  much  to  the  north  of 
the  points  reached  by  Penny  and  De  Haven.  Next, 
though  most  scantily  provided  with  steam-power, 
Franklin  navigated  round  Cornwallis'  Land,  which 
he  thus  proved  to  be  an  island.  The  last  discovery 
of  a  navigable  channel  throughout,  between  Corn- 
wallis  and  Bathurst  Islands,  though  made  in  the 
very  summer  he  left  England,  has  remained '  even 
to  this  day  unknown  to  other  navigators ! 

Franklin  then,  in  obedience  to  his  orders,  steered 
to  the  south-west.  Passing,  as  M'Clintock  believes, 
down  Peel's  Strait  in  1846,  and  reaching  as  far  as 
lat  70°  05'  N.,  and  long.  98°  23'  W.,  where  the  ships 
were  beset,  it  is  clear  that  he,  who,  with  others,  had 
previously  ascertained  the  existence  of  a  channel 
along  the  north  coast  of  America,  with  which  the 
sea  wherein  he  was  interred  had  a  direct  commu 
nication,  was  the  first  real  discoverer  of  the  North* 
West  Passage.  This  great  fact  must  therefore  be 
inscribed  upon  the  monument  of  Franklin. 
B 


xir  PREFACE. 

The  adventurous  M'Clure,  who  has  been  worthily 
honored  for  working  out  another  North- Western  pas 
sage,  which  we  now  know  to  have  been  of  subsequent 
date,*  as  welt  as  Collinson,  who,  taking  the  '  Enter 
prise'  along  the  north  coast  of  America,  and  afterwards 
bringing  her  home,  reached  with  sledges  the  western 
edge  of  the  area  recently  laid  open  by  M'Clintock,  will 
I  have  no  doubt  unite  with  their  Arctic  associates, 
Richardson,  Sherard  Osborn,  and  M'Clintock,  in  affirm 
ing,  that  "  Franklin  and  his  followers  secured  the  honor 
for  which  they  died  —  that  of  being  the  first  discover 
ers  of  the  North- West  Passage."  f 

Again,  when  we  turn  from  the  discoveries  of  Frank 
lin  to  those  of  M'Clintock,  as  mapped  in  red  colors  on 
the  genera!  map,  on  which  is  represented  the  amount 
of  outline  laid  down  by  all  other  Arctic  explorers  from 

*  In  1850.  % 

t  See  a  most  heart-stirring  sketch  of  the  last  voyage  of  Sir  John  Frank 
lin,  by  Captain  Sherard  Osborn,  in  the  periodical  Once  a  Week,  of  the  22d 
and  29th  October  and  5th  November  last.  Possessing  a  thorough  ac 
quaintance  with  the  Arctic  regions,  the  distinguished  seamnn  has  shown 
more  than  his  ordinary  power  of  description,  in  placing  before  the  public 
his  conception  of  what  may  have  been  the  chief  occurrences  in  the  voyage 
of  the  '  Erebus  '  and  '  Terror,'  and  the  last  days  of  Franklin,  as  founded 
ypon  an  acquaintance  with  the  character  of  "the  chief  and  his  associates, 
and  the  record  and  relics  obtained  by  M'Clintock.  This  sketch  is  pref 
aced  by  a  spirited  and  graceful  outline  of  all  previous  geographical  dis 
coveries,  from  the  day  when  they  were  originated  by  the  father  of  all 
modern  Arctic  enterprise,  Sir  John  Borrow,  to  whom,  and  to  many  other 
eminent  persons,  from  Sir  Edward  Parry  downwards,  I  have  in  varioua 
Geographical  Addresses  offered  the  tribute  of  my  admiration. 


PREFACE.  xv 

the  days  when  these  modern  researches  originated  with 
Sir  John  Barrow,  we  perceive  that,  in  addition  to  the 
discovery  of  the  course  followed  by  the  l  Erebus '  and 
4  Terror,'  some  most  Important  geographical  data  have 
been  accumulated  by  the  last  expedition  of  Lady 
Franklin. 

Thus,  M'Clintock  has  proved,  that  the  strait  named 
by  Kenedy  in  an  earlier,  private  expedition  of  Lady 
Franklin  after  his  companion  the  brave  Lieutenant 
Bellot,  and  which  has  hitherto  been  regarded  only  as 
an  impassable  frozen  channel,  or  ignored  as  a  channel 
at  all,  is  a  navigable  strait,  the  south  shore  of  which  is 
thus  seen  to  be  the  northernmost  land  of  the  continent 
of  America. 

M'Clintock  has  also  laid  down  the  hitherto  unknown 
coast-line  of  Boothia,  southwards  from  Bellot  Strait  to 
the  Magnetic  Pole,  has  delineated  the  whole  of  King 
William's  Island,  and  opened  a  new  and  capacious, 
though  ice-choked  channel,  suspected  before,  but  not 
proved,  to  exist,  extending  from  Victoria  Strait  in  a 
north-west  direction  to  Melville  or  Parry  Sound.  The 
latter  discovery  rewarded  the  individual  exertions  of 
Captain  Allen  Young,  but  will  very  properly,  at  Lady 
Franklin's  request,  bear  the  name  of  the  leader  .of  th 
'  Fox '  expedition,  who  had  himself  assigned  to  it  the 
name  of  the  widow  of  Franklin.* 

*  In  his  volume  before  cited,  p.  xii.,  Mr.  John  Brown  gave  strong  rea 
sons  (which  he  had  held  for  some  time)  for  believing  in  the  existence  of 
the  very  channel  which  now  bears  the  name  of  M'Clintock.  It  is,  how 


xvi  PREFACE. 

Neither  has  the  expedition  been  unproductive  of 
scientific  results.  For,  whilst  many  persons  will  be 
interested  in  the  popular  descriptions  of  the  native 
Esquimaux,  as  well  as  of  the  lower  animals,  the 
man  of  science  will  hereafter  be  further  gratified  by 
having  presented  to  him,  in  the  form  of  an  addi 
tional  Appendix,*  most  valuable  details  relating  to 
the  zoology,  botany,  meteorology,  and  especially  to 
the  terrestrial  magnetism,  of  the  region  examined. 

Lastly,  M'Clintock  has  convinced  himself,  that  the 
best  way  of  securing  the  passage  of  a  ship  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  is  by  following,  as  near 
as  possible,  the  coast-line  of  North  America :  indeed, 
it  is  his  opinion,  founded  upon  a  large  experience, 
that  no  passage  by  a  ship  can  ever  be  accomplished 
in  a  more  northern  direction.  This  it  is  well  known 
was  the  favorite  theory  of  Franklin,  who  had  him 
self,  along  with  Richardson,  Back,  Beechey,  Dease, 
Simpson,  and  Rae,  surveyed  the  whole  of  that  same 
North  American  coast  from  the  Back  or  Great  Fish 
River  to  Behring  Strait.  Thus,  when  Franklin  sailed 
in  1845,  the  discovery  of  a  North- West  Passage  was 
reduced  to  the  finding  a  link  between  the  latter  sur 
vey  and  the  discoveries  of  Parry,  who  had  already, 

ever,  the  opinion  both  of  that  officer  and  his  associates,  as  also  of  Captain 
Sheranl  Oshorn,  that  Franklin  could  not  have  reached  the  spot  where  his 
ships  were  hcset  by  proceeding  down  that  ice-choked  channel,  but  that  ha 
must  have  sailed  down  Peel  Sound. 
*  Much  of  this  Appendix  will  bo  prepared  by  Dr.  David  Walker. 


PKEFACE.  xvii 

to  his  great  renown,  opened  the  first  half  of  a  more 
northern  course  from  east  to  west,  when  he  was 
arrested  by  the  impenetrable  ice-barrier  at  Melville 
Island. 

And  here  it  is  to  be  remembered,  that  the  tract 
m  which  the  record  and  the  relics  have  been  found, 
is  just  that  to  which  Lady  Franklin  herself  specially 
directed  Kenedy,  the  commander  of  the  *  Prince  Al 
bert,'  in  her  second  private  expedition  in  1852;  and 
had  that  intrepid  explorer  not  been  induced  to  search 
northwards  of  Bellot  Strait,  but  had  felt  himself  able 
to  follow  the  course  indicated  by  his  sagacious  em 
ployer,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  that  much  more  satis 
factory  results  would  have  been  obtained  than  those 
which,  after  a  lapse  of  seven  years,  have  now  been 
realized  by  the  undaunted  perseverance  of  Lady  Frank 
lin,  and  the  skill  and  courage  of  M'Clintock. 

The  natural  modesty  of  this  commander  has,  I  am 
bound  to  say,  prevented  his  doing  common  justice, 
in  the  following  journal,  to  his  own  conduct  —  con 
duct  which  can  be  estimated  by  those  only  who  have 
listened  to  the  testimony  of  the  officers  serv.'ng  with 
and  under  the  man,  whose  great  qualities  in  moments 
of  extreme  peril  elicited  their  heartiest  admiration  and 
ensured  their  perfect  confidence. 

In  writing  this  Preface  (which  I  do  at  the  request 
of  the  promoters  of  the  last  search),  I  may  state  that, 
having  occupied  the  Chair  of  the  Royal  Geographi 
cal  Society  in  1845,  when  my  cherished  friend,  Sir 
2*  B 


xviii  PREFACE. 

John  Franklin,  went  forth  for  the  third  time  to  seek 
a  North- West  passage,  it  became  my  bounden  duty 
in  subsequent  years,  when  his  absence  created  much 
anxiety,  and  when  I  re-occupied  the  same  position, 
ardently  to  promote  the  employment  of  searching  ex 
peditions,  and  warmly  to  sustain  Lady  Franklin's 
endeavors  in  this  holy  cause. 

Imbued  with  such  feelings,  I  must  be  permitted 
to  say,  that  no  event  in  my  life  gave  me  purer  de 
light,  than  when  Captain  Collinson,  whose  labors  to 
support  and  carry  out  this  last  search  have  been  sig 
nally  serviceable,  forwarded  to  me  a  telegram  to  be 
communicated  to  the  British  Association  at  Aberdeen 
announcing  the  success  of  M'Clintock.  That  docu 
ment  reached  Balmoral  on  the  22nd  of  September 
last,  when  the  men  of  science  were  invited  thither 
by  their  Sovereign.  Great  was  the  satisfaction  caused 
by  the  diffusion  of  these  good  tidings  among  my  asso 
ciates  (the  distinguished  Arctic  explorers  Admiral  Sir 
James  Ross  and  General  Sabine  being  present) ;  and 
it  was  most  cheering  to  us  to  know,  that  the  Queen 
and  our  Royal  President*  took  the  deepest  interest 

*  At  the  Aberdeen  meeting  the  Prince  Consort  thus  spoke: — "The 
Aberdeen  whaler  braves  the  icy  regions  of  the  Polar  sea  to  seek  and  to 
battle  with  the  great  monster  of  the  deep  ;  he  lias  materially  assisted  in 
opening  these  icebound  regions  to  the  researches  of  science  ;  he  fearlessly 
aided  in  the  search  after  Sir  John  Franklin  and  his  gallant  companions 
whom  their  country  sent  fortli  on  this  mission  ;  but  to  whom  Providence, 
alas!  has  denied  the  reward  of  their  labors,  the  return  to  their  homes,  to 
the  affectionate  embrace  of  their  families  and  friends,  and  the  acknowl 
edgments  of  a  grateful  nation." 


PREFACE.  xix 

in  this  intelligence — Jsuch  as,  indeed,  they  have  always 
evinced  whenever  the  search  for  the  missing  navigators 
has  been  brought  under  their  consideration.  The  im 
mediate  bestowal  of  the  Arctic  medal  upon  all  the 
officers  and  men  of  the  4  Fox '  is  a  pleasing  proof  that 
this  interest  is  well  sustained. 

But  these  few  introductory  sentences  must  not  be 
extended ;  and  I  invite  the  reader  at  once  to  peruse 
the  Journal  of  M'Clintock,  which  will  gratify  every 
lover  of  truthful  and  ardent  research,  though  it  will 
leave  him  impressed  with  the  sad  belief,  that  the  end 
of  the  companions  of  Franklin  has  been  truly  re 
corded  by  the  native  Esquimaux,  who  saw  these  no 
ble  fellows  "  fall  down  and  die  as  they  walked  along 
the  ice." 

Looking  to  the  fact,  that  little  or  no  fresh  food  could 
have  been  obtained  by  the  crews  of  the  *  Erebus '  and 
1  Terror '  during  their  long  imprisonment  of  twenty 
months,  in  so  frightfully  sterile  a  region  as  that  in 
which  the  ships  were  abandoned,  —  so  sterile  that  it 
is  even  deserted  by  the  Esquimaux,  —  and  also  to  the 
want  of  sustenance  in  spring  at  the  mouth  of  the  Back 
River,  all  the  Arctic  naval  authorities  with  whom  I 
have  conversed,  coincide  with  M'Clintock  and  his  as 
sociates  in  the  belief,  that  none  of  the  missing  navi 
gators  can  be  now  living. 

Painful  as  is  the  realisation  of  this  tragic  event,  let 
us  now  dwell  only  on  the  reflection  that,  while  the 
North- West  passage  has  been  solved  by  the  heroic 


xx  PREFACE. 

self-sacrifice  of  Franklin,  Crozier*,  Fitzjames,  and  their 
associates,  the  searches  after  them  which  are  now  ter 
minated,  have,  at  a  very  small  loss  of  life,  not  only 
added  prodigiously  to  geographical  knowledge,  but 
have,  in  times  of  peace,  been  the  best  school  for  test 
ing,  by  the  severest  trials,  the  skill  and  endurance  of 
many  a  brave  seaman.  In  her  hour  of  need  —  should 
need  arise  —  England  knows  that  such  men  will  nobly 

do  their  duty. 

RODERICK  I.  MURCHISON. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Cause  of  delay  in  equipment  —  Fittings  of  the  'Fox' — Volunteers  for 
Arctic  service  —  Assistance  from  public  departments — Reflections 
upon  the  undertaking  —  Instructions  and  departure — Orkneys  and 
Greenland  —  Fine  Arctic  scenery  —  Danish  establishments  in  Green 
land —  Frederickshaah,  in  Davis'' Straits,  ....  Page  1 

CHAPTER  II. 

Fiskernaes  and  Esquimaux  —  The  '  Fox  '  reaches  Disco  —  Disco  Fiord 

—  Summer  scenery  —  Waigat  Strait  —  Coaling  from  the  mine  —  Pur 
chasing  Esquimaux  dogs  —  Heavy  gale  off  Upernivik  —  Melville  Bay 

—  The   middle    ice  —  The   great    glacier  of   Greenland  —  Reindeer 
cross  the  glacier, 19 

It  CHAPTER  III. 

Melville  Bay — Beset  in  Melville  Bay —  Signs  of  winter  —  The  coming 
storm  —  Drifting  in  the  pack  —  Canine  appetite  —  Resigned  to  a  win 
ter  in  the  pack  —  Dinner  stolen  by  sharks — The  Arctic  shark  — 
White  whales  and  killers, 35 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Snow  crystals  —  Dog  will  not  eat  raven  —  An  Arctic  school  —  The  dogs 
invade  us  —  Bear-hunting  by  night  —  Ice-ai'tillery  —  Arctic  palates  — 
Sudden  rise  of  temperature —  Harvey's  idea  of  a  sortie,  .  .  51 

CHAPTER  V. 

Burial  in  the  pack  —  Musk  oxen  in  lat.  80°  north  —  Thrift  of  the  Arctic 
fox — The  aurora  affects  the  electrometer — An  Arctic  Christmas  — 
Sufferings  of  an  Arctic  party  —  Ice  acted  on  by  wind  only  —  How 
the  sun  ought  to  be  welcomed  —  Constant  action  of  the  ice  —  Return 
of  the  seals  —  Revolving  storm, 67 

CHAPTER  VI. 

A  bear-fight  —  An  ice-nip  —  Strong  gales,  rapid  drift  —  The  '  Fox  ' 
breaks  out  of  the  pack  —  Hanging  on  to  floe-edge  —  the  Arctic  bear  — 
An  ice  tournament  —  The  'Fox'  in  peril  —  A  storm  in  the  pack  — 
Escape  from  the  pack,         ........        84 

xxi 


xxii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

A  holiday  in  Greenland  —  A  lady  blue  with  cold  —  The  loves  of  Green- 
landers  —  Close  shaving  —  Meet  the  whalers  —  Information  of  whal 
ers —  Disco  —  Danish  hospitality — Sail  from  Disco  —  Kindness  of 
the  whalers  —  Danish  establishments  in  Greenland,  .  •  100 

CHAPTER  VlII. 

'  Fox  '  nearly  wrecked  —  Afloat,  and  push  ahead  —  Arctic  hairbreadth 
escapes  —  Nearly  caught  in  the  pack  —  Shooting  little  auks  —  The 
Arctic  Highlanders  —  Cape  York  —  Crimson  snow — Struggling  to 
the  westward — Reach  the  West-land  —  Off  the  entrance  of  Lancaster 
Sound, 116 

CHAPTER'  IX. 

Off  Cape  Warrender  —  Sight  the  whalers  again  —  Enter  Pond's  Bay  — 
Communicate  with  Esquimaux  —  Ascend  Pond's  Inlet  —  Esquimaux 
information  —  Arctic  summer  abode  —  An  Arctic  village — No  intel 
ligence  of  Franklin's  ships  —  Arctic  trading  —  Geographical  infor 
mation  of  natives  —  Information  of  Rae's  visit  —  Improvidence  of 
Esquimaux  —  Travels  of  Esquimaux, 132 

CHAPTER  X. 

Leave  Pond's  Bay — A  gale  in  Lancaster  Sound — The  Beechey  Island 
Depot — An  Arctic  monument — Reflections  at  Beechey  Island — Pro 
ceed  up  Barrow's  Strait — Peel  Sound — Port  Leopold — Prince  Regent's 
Inlet — Bellot  Strait — Flood-tide  from  the  west — Unsuccessful  efforts — 
Fox's  Hole — No  water  to  the  west — Precautionary  measures — Fourth 
attempt  to  pass  through, 153 

CHAPTER  XL 

Proceed  westward  in  a  boat —  Cheerless  state  of  the  western  sea —  Strug 
gles  in  Bellot  Strait —  Falcons,  good  Arctic  fare — The  resources  of 
Boothia  Felix  —  Future  sledge  travelling  —  Heavy  gales  —  Hobson's 
party  start — Winter  quarters  —  Bellot's  Strait  —  Advanced  depot  es 
tablished —  Observatories —  Intense  cold  —  Autumn  travellers  —  Nar 
row  escape, 1  ?4 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Death  of  our  engineer — Scarcity  of  game — The  cold  unusally  trying — 
Jollv,  under  adverse  circumstances — Peterson's  information — Return 
of  the  sun  of  1859 — Earlv  spring  sledge  parties — Unusual  severity  of 
the  winter — Severe  hardships  of  early  sledging — The  western  shores 
of  Boothia — Meet  the  Esquimaux — Intelligence  of  Franklin's  ships — 
Return  to  the  '  Fox  ' — Allen  Young  returns,  .  .  .  '  .  192 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Dr.  Walker's  sledge  journey  —  Snow-blindness  attacks  Young's  party  — 
Departure  of  all  sledge-parties  —  Equipment  of  sledge-parties  —  Meet 
the  samo  party  of  natives  —  Intelligence  of  the  second  ship  —  Mv  de 
pot  robbed  —  Part  company  from  Hobson  — Matty  Island  —  Deserted 
snow-huts  —  Native  sledges  —  Land  on  King  William's  Land,  217 


CONTENTS.  xxiii 

• 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Meet  Esquimaux  — News  of  Franklin's  people  —  Frighten  ft  solitary 
party — Reach  the  Great  Fish  River  —  On  Montreal  Island  —  Total  ab 
sence  of  all  relics  —  Examine  Ogle  Peninsula  —  Discover  a  skeleton  — 
Vagueness  of  Esquimaux  information —  Cape  Herschel  —  Cairn,  235 

CHAPTER  XV. 

The  cairn  found  empty  —  Discover  Hobson's  letter  —  Discovery  of  Cro- 
zier's  record  —  The  deserted  boat  —  Articles  discovered  about  the  boat 
—  The  skeletons  and  relics  —  The  boat  belonged  to  the '  Erebus  ' —  Con 
jectures,  253 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Errors  in  Franklin's  records  —  Relics  found  at  the  cairn  —  Reflections  on 
the  retreat  —  Returning  homeward  —  Geological  remarks  —  Difficul 
ties  of  summer  sledging  —  Arrive  on  board  the  'Fox'  —  Navigable 
N.W.  passage  —  Death  from  scurvy — Anxiety  for  Captain  Young  — 
Young  returns  safely, 272 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Signs  of  release — Dearth  of  animal  life — Owl  is  good  beef — Beat  out 
of  winter  quarters — Our  game-list — Reach  Fury  Beach — Escape  from 
Regent's  Inlet — In  Baffin's  Bay — Captain  Allen  Young's  journey — 
Disco ;  sad  disappointment — Part  from  our  Esquimaux  friends — 
Adieu  to  Greenland — Arrive  home, 292 

CONCLUSION.      .  ....       375 


APPENDIX. 

No.  I. — A  Letter  to  Viscount  Palmerston,  E.G.,  &c.,  from  Lady 
Franklin, 319 

No.  II.  —  Memorial  to  the  Right  Hon.  Viscount  Palmerston,  M.P., 
G.C.B., 329 

No.  III.  —  List  of  Relics  of  the  Franklin  Expedition  brought  to 
England  in  the •'  Fox  '  by  Captain  M'Clintock,        .         .         .        334 

No.  IV.  —  Geological  Account  of  the  Arctic  Archipelago,  by  Pro 
fessor  Haughton,  * 341 

No.  V. — List  of  Subscribers  to  the  '  Fox '  Expedition,       .        .373 


"    OP  THE         >P^ 

E! 


JOURNAL  OF  THE"  SEARCH 


FOR 


SIR    JOHN    FRANKLIN. 


CHAPTER   I. 

Cause  of  delay  in  equipment  —  Fittings  of  the  *  Fox '  —  Volunteers  for 
Arctic  service  —  Assistance  from  public  departments  —  Reflections 
upon  the  undertaking  —  Instructions  and  departure  —  Orkneys  and 
Greenland  —  Fine  Arctic  scenery  —  Danish  establishments  in  Green 
land  —  Frederickshaab,  in  Davis'  Straits. 

IT  is  now  a  matter  of  history  how  Government 
and  private  expeditions  prosecuted,  with  unpre 
cedented  zeal  and  perseverance,  the  search  for 
Sir  John  Franklin's  ships,  between  the  years 
1847-55 ;  and  that  the  only  ray  of  information 
gleaned  was  that  afforded  by  the  inscriptions 
upon  three  tombstones  at  Beechey  Island,  briefly 
recording  the  names  and  dates  of  the  deaths  oi' 
those  individuals  of  the  lost  expedition,  who  thus 
early  fell  in  the  cause  of  science  and  of  their 
country. 

In  this  manner  were  we  made  aware  of  the 
locality  where  the  Franklin  expedition  passed  its 
first  Arctic  winter.  The  traces  assuring  us  of 
that  fact,  were  discovered  in  August,  1850,  by 


2  FORMER  EXPEDITIONS.  CHAP.  L 

Captain  Ommanney,  R.N.,  of  II.M.S. '  Assistance/ 
and  by  Captain  Penny,  of  the  '  Lady  Franklin/ 

In  October,  1854,  Dr.  Rae  brought  home  the 
only  additional  information  respecting  them  which 
has  ever  reached  us.  From  the  Esquimaux  of 
Boothia  Felix  he  learned  that  a  party  of  about 
forty  white  men  were  met  on  the  west  coast  of 
King  William's  Island,  and  from  thence  travelled 
on  to  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Fish  River,  where 
they  all  perished  of  starvation,  .and  that  this 
tragic  event  occurred  apparently  in  the  spring 
of  1850. 

Some  relics  obtained  from  these  natives,  and 
brought  home  by  Dr.  Rae,  were  proved  to  have 
belonged  to  Sir  John  Franklin  and  several  of  his 
associates. 

The  Government  caused  an  exploring  party  to 
descend  the  Fish  River  in  1855 ;  but,  although 
sufficient  traces  were  found  to  prove  that  some  por 
tion  of  the  crews  of  the  6  Erebus '  and  <  Terror'  had 
actually  landed  on  the  banks  of  that  river,  and 
traces  existed  of  them  up  to  Franklin  Rapids,  no 
additional  information  was  obtained  either  from 
the  discovery  of  records,  or  through  the  Esqui 
maux.  Mr.  Anderson,  the  Hudson  Bay  Company's 
officer  in  charge,  and  his  small  party,  deserve 
•credit  for  their  perseverance  and  skill ;  but  they 
were  not  furnished  with  the  necessary  means  of 
accomplishing  their  mission.  Mr.  Anderson  could 
not  obtain  an  interpreter,  and  the  two  frail  bark 


APR.  1857.      CAUSE  OF  DELAY  IN  EQUIPMENT.  3 

canoes  in  which  his  whole  party  embarked  were 
almost  worn  out  before  they  reached  the  locality 
to  be  searched.  It  is  not  surprising  that  such 
an  expedition  caused  very  considerable  excite 
ment  at  home. 

Lady  Franklin,  and  the  advocates  for  further 
search,  now  pressed  upon  government  th<  neces 
sity  of  following  up,  in  a  more  effectual  manner, 
the  traces  accidentally  found  by  Dr.  Rae,  and, 
in  fact,  of  rendering  the  search  complete  by  one 
more  effort,  involving  but  little  of  hazard  or 
expense.  It  was  not  until  April,  1857,  that  any 
decisive  answer  was  given  to  Lady  Franklin's 
appeal.  (See  Appendix  No.  1.) 

Sir  Charles  Wood  then  stated  "  that  the  mem 
bers  of  Her  Majesty's  Government,  having  come, 
with  great  regret,  to  the  conclusion  that  there 
was  no  prospect  of  saving  life,  would  not  be  justi 
fied,  for  any  objects  which  in  their  opinion  could 
be  obtained  by  an  expedition  to  the  Arctic  seas, 
in  exposing  the  lives  of  officers  and  men  to  the 
risk  inseparable  from  such  an  enterprise." 

Lady  Franklin,  upon  this  final  disappointment 
of  her  hopes,  had  no  hesitation  in  immediately 
preparing  to  send  out  a  searching  expedition, 
equipped  and  stored  at  her  own  cost.  But  she 
was  not  left  alone.  Many  friends  of  the  cause 
—  including  some  of  the  most  distinguished  scien 
tific  men  in  England,*  and  especially  Sir  Roderick 

*  A  list  of  them  and  their  subscriptions  to  be  {jiven  in  Appendix. 


4  NOMINATION  OF  COMMANDER.  CHAP.  1. 

Murchison,  whose  zeal  was  as  practical  as  it  was 
enlightened  —  hastened  to  tender  their  aid,  and 
soon  a  very  considerable  sum  was  raised  in  fur 
therance  of  so  truly  noble  an  effort. 

On  the  18th  of  April,  1857,  Lady  Franklin 
did  me  the  honor  to  offer  me  the  command  of 
the  proposed  expedition ;  it  was  of  course  most 
cheerfully  accepted.  As  a  post  of  honor  and 
some  difficulty,  it  possessed  quite  sufficient  charms 
for  a  naval  officer  who  had  already  served  in 
three  consecutive  expeditions  from  1848  to  1854. 
I  wras  thoroughly  conversant  with  all  the  details 
of  this  peculiar  service  ;  and  I  confess,  moreover, 
that  my  whole  heart  was  in  the  cause.  How 
could  I  do  otherwise  than  devote  myself  to  save 
at  least  the  record  of  faithful  service,  even  unto 
death,  of  my  brother  officers  and  seamen  ?  and, 
being  one  of  those  by  whose  united  efforts  not 
only  the  Franklin  search,  but  the  geography  of 
Arctic  America,  has  been  brought  so  nearly  to 
completion,  I  could  not  willingly  resign  to  pos 
terity,  the  honor  of  filling  up  even  the  small 
remaining  blank  upon  our  maps. 

To  leave  these  discoveries  incomplete,  more 
especially  in  a  quarter  through  which  the  tidal 
stream  actually  demonstrates  the  existence  of  a 
channel  —  the  only  remaining  hope  of  a  prac 
ticable  north-west  passage  —  would  indeed  be 
leaving  strong  inducement  for  future  explorers  to 
reap  the  ricli  reward  of  our  long-continued  exer 
tions 


HTJ3TIVZ          ' 

APR.  1857.  PURCHASE  OF  TlMJ  ^OX.'   o  ? 

< 

I  immediately  applied  to  the  Admiralty  for 
leave  of  absence  to  complete  the  Franklin  search ; 
and  on  the  23d  received  at  Dublin  the  telegraphic 
message  from  Lady  Franklin:  "Your  leave  is 
granted ;  the  '  Fox '  is  mine ;  the  refit  will  com 
mence  immediately."  She  had  already  purchased 
the  screw-yacht  'Fox/  of  177  tons  burthen,  and 
now  placed  her,  together  with  the  necessary 
funds,  at  my  disposal. 

Let  me  explain  what  is  here  implied  by  the 
simple  word  refit.  The  velvet  hangings  and 
splendid  furniture  of  the  yacht,  and  also  every 
thing  not  constituting  a  part  of  the  vessel's 
strengthening,  were  to  be  removed ;  the  large 
sky-lights  and  capacious  ladder  ways  had  to  be 
reduced  to  limits  more  adapted  to  a  polar  clime  ; 
the  whole  vessel  to  be  externally  sheathed  with 
stout  planking,  and  internally  fortified  by  strong 
cross-beams,  longitudinal  beams,  iron  stanchions, 
and  diagonal  fastenings ;  the  false  keel  taken  off, 
the  slender  brass  propeller  replaced  by  a  mas 
sive  iron  one,  the  boiler  taken  out,  altered,  and 
enlarged ;  the  sharp  stem  to  be  cased  in  iron 
until  it  resembled  a  ponderous  chisel  set  up  edge 
ways  ;  even  the  yacht's  rig  had  to  be  altered. 

She  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  her  builders, 
Messrs.  Hall  &  Co.,  of  Aberdeen,  who  displayed 
even  more  than  their  usual  activity  in  effecting 
these  necessary  alterations,  for  it  was  determined 

that  the  '  Fox '  should  sail  by  the  1st  July. 
i* 


6  FITTINGS  OF  THE    'FOX.'  CHAP.  !• 

Internally  she  was  fitted  up  with  the  strictest 
economy  in  every  sense,  and  the  officers  were 
crammed  into  pigeon-holes,  styled  cabins,  in  order 
to  make  room  for  provisions  and  stores;  our 
me?s-room,  for  five  persons,  measured  8  feet 
square.  The  ordinary  heating  apparatus  for  win 
ter  use  was  dispensed  with,  and  its  place  supplied 
by  a  few  very  small  stoves.  The  '  Fox '  had 
been  the  property  of  the  late  Sir  Richard  Sutton, 
Bart,  who  made  but  one  trip  to  Norway  in  her, 
and  she  was  purchased  by  Lady  Franklin  from 
his  executors  for  2000/. 

Having  thus  far  commenced  the  refit  of  the 
vessel,  I  turned  my  attention  to  the  selection  of 
a  crew  and  to  the  requisite  clothing  and  pro 
visions  for  our  voyage. 

Many  worthy  old  shipmates,  my  companions  in 
the  previous  Arctic  voyages,  most  readily  volun 
teered  their  services,  and  they  were  as  cheerfully 
accepted,  for  it  was  my  anxious  wish  to  gather 
round  me  well-tried  men,  who  were  aware  of  the 
duties  expected  of  them,  and  accustomed  to  naval 
discipline.  Hence,  out  of  the  twenty-five  souls 
composing  our  small  company,  seventeen  had 
previously  served  in  the  Arctic  search. 

Expeditions  of  this  kind  are  always  popular 
with  seamen,  and  innumerable  were  the  applica 
tions  sent  to  me ;  but  still  more  abundant  were 
the  offers  to  "  serve  in  any  capacity "  which 
poured  in  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  from 


APR.  1857.        OtfFICEKS  OF  THE  EXPEDITION.  7 

people  of  all  classes,  many  of  whom  had  never 
seen  the  sea.  *It  was,  of  course,  impossible  to 
accede  to  any  of  these  latter  proposals,  yet,  for 
my  own  part,  I  could  not  but  feel  gratified  at 
such  convincing  proofs  that  the  spirit  of  the 
country  was  favorable  to  us,  and  that  the  ardent 
love  of  hardy  enterprise  still  lives  amongst  Eng 
lishmen,  as  of  old,  to  be  cherished,  I  trust,  as 
the  most  valuable  of  our  national  characteristics 
— as  that  which  has  so  largely  contributed  to 
make  England  what  she  is. 

My  second  in  command  was  Lieutenant  W.  R. 
Hobson,  R.N.,  an  officer  already  distinguished  in 
Arctic  service.  Captain  Allen  Young  joined  me 
as  sailing-master,  contributing  not  only  his  val 
uable  services  but  largely  of  his  private  funds 
to  the  expedition.  This  gentleman  had  pre 
viously  commanded  some  of  our  very  finest  mer 
chant  ships,  the  latest  being  the  steam-transport 
'Adelaide*  of  2500  tons:  he  had  but  recently 
returned,  in  ill  health,  from  the  Black  Sea, 
where  he  was  most  actively  employed  during 
the  greater  part  of  the  Crimean  campaign. 
Nothing  that  I  could  say  would  add  to  the 
merit  of  such  singularly  generous  and  disin 
terested  conduct.  David  Walker,  M.D.,  volun 
teered  for  the  post  of  surgeon  and  naturalist ; 
he  also  undertook  the  photographic  department ; 
and  just  before  sailing,  Carl  Petersen,  now  so 
well  known  to  Arctic  readers  as  the  Esquimaux 


8        ASSISTANCE  FROM  PUBLIC  DEPARTMENTS.  CHAP.  I. 

interpreter  in  the  expeditions  of  Captain  Penny 
and  Dr.  Kane,  came  to  join  me  from  Copen 
hagen,  although  landed  there  from  Greenland 
only  six  days  previously,  after  an  absence  of  a 
year  from  his  family:  we  were  indebted  to  Sir 
Roderick  Murchison  and  the  electric  telegraph 
for  securing  his  valuable  services. 

Like  the  Paris  omnibuses  we  were  at  length 
tout  complet^  and  quite  as  anxious  to  make  a  start. 

Ample  provisions  for  twenty-eight  months  were 
embarked,  including  preserved  vegetables,  lemon- 
juice,  and  pickles,  for  daily  consumption,  and  pre 
served  meats  for  every  third  day :  also  as  much 
of  Messrs.  Allsopp's  stoutest  ale  as  we  could  find 
room  for.  The  Government,  although  declining 
to  send  out  an  expedition,  yet  now  contributed 
liberally  to  our  supplies.  All  our  arms,  powder, 
shot,  powder  for  ice-blasting,  rockets,  maroons, 
and  signal  mortar,  were  furnished  by  the  Board 
of  Ordnance.  The  Admiralty  caused  6682  Ibs.  of 
pemmican  to  be  prepared  for  our  use.  Not  less 
than  85,000  Ibs.  of  this  invaluable  food  have  been 
prepared-  since  1845  at  the  Royal  Clarence  Vict 
ualing  Yard,  Gosport,  for  the  use  of  the  Arctic 
Expeditions.  It  is  composed  of  prime  beef  cut 
into  thin  slices  and  dried  over  a  wood  lire ;  then 
pounded  up  and  mixed  with  about  an  equal  weight 
of  melted  beef  fat.  The  pemmican  is  then  pressed 
into  cases  capable  of  containing  41!  Ibs.  each. 
The  Admiralty  supplied  us  with  all  the  requisite 


APR.  1857.       DONATION  FROM  ROYAL  SOCIETY.  a 

ice-gear,  such  as  saws  from  ten  to  eighteen  feet 
in  length,  ice-anchors,  and  ice-claws :  also  with 
our  winter  housing,  medicines,  pur«3  lemon-juice, 
seamen's  library,  hydrographical  instruments, 
charts,  chronometers,  and  an  ample  supply  of  arc 
tic  clothing  which  Lad  remained  in  store  from 
former  expeditions.  The  Board  of  Trade  con 
tributed  a  variety  of  meteorological  and  nautical 
instruments  and  journals  ;  and  I  found  that  I  had 
but  to  ask  of  these  departments  for  what  was 
required,  and  if  in  store  it  was  at  once  granted. 
I  asked,  however,  only  for  such  things  as  were 
indispensably  necessary. 

The  President  and  Council  of  the  Koyal  So 
ciety  voted  the  sum  of  50/.  from  their  donation 
fund  for  the  purchase  of  magnetic  and  other 
scientific  instruments,  in  order  that  our  antici 
pated  approach  to  so  interesting  a  locality  as  the 
Magnetic  Pole  might  not  be  altogether  barren  of 
results. 

Being  desirous  to  retain  for  my  vessel  the 
privileges  she  formerly  enjoyed  as  a  yacht,  my 
wishes  were  very  promptly  gratified  ;  in  the  first 
instance  by  the  Koyal  Harwich  Yacht  Club,  of 
which  my  officers  and  myself  were  enrolled  as 
members  —  the  Commodore,  A.  Arcedeckne,  Esq., 
presenting  my  vessel  with  the  handsome  ensign 
and  burgee  of  the  Club ;  and  shortly  afterwards 
by  my  being  elected  a  member  of  the  Royal 
Victoria  Yacht  Club  for  the  period  of  my  voyage, 


10       REFLECTIONS  UPON  THE  UNDERTAKING.       CHAP.  1. 

Lastly,  upon  the  very  day  of  sailing,  I  was  pro 
posed  for  the  Royal  Yacht  Squadron,  to  which 
the  yacht  had  previously  belonged  when  the 
property  of  Sir  Richard  Stratton. 

Throughout  the  whole  period  required  for  our 
equipment,  I  constantly  experienced  the  heartiest 
co-operation  and  earnest  good  will  from  nil  with 
whom  my  varied  duties  brought  me  in  contact. 
Deep  sympathy  with  Lady  Franklin  in  her  dis 
tress,  her  self-devotion  and  sacrifice  of  fortune, 
and  an  earnest  desire  to  extend  succor  to  any 
chance  survivors  of  the  ill-fated  expedition  who 
might  still  exist,  or  at  least,  to  ascertain  their 
fate,  and  rescue  from  oblivion  their  heroic  deeds, 
seemed  the  natural  promptings  of  every  honest 
English  heart.  It  is  needless  to  add  that  this 
experience  of  public  opinion  confirmed  my  own 
impression  that  the  glorious  mission  intrusted  to 
me  was  in  reality  a  great  national  duly.  I  could 
not  but  feel  that,  if  the  gigantic  and  admirably 
equipped  national  expeditions  sent  out  on  pre 
cisely  the  same  duty,  and  reflecting  so  much 
credit  upon  the  Board  of  Admirality,  were  ranked 
amongst  the  noblest  efforts  in  the  cause  of  human 
ity  any  nation  ever  engaged  in,  and  that,  if  high 
honor  was  awarded  to  all  composing  those  splen 
did  expeditions,  surety  the  effort  became  still 
more  remarkable  and  worthy  of  approbation  when 
its  means  were  limited  to  one  little  vessel,  con 
taining  but  twenty-five  souls,  equipped  and  pro- 


APR.  185r.  LADY  FRANKLIN'S  VISIT.  11 

visioned  (although  efficiently,  yet)  in  a  manner 
more  according  with  the  limited  resources  of  a 
private  individual  than  with  those  of  the  public 
purse.  The  less  the  means,  the  more  arduous  I 
felt  was  the  achievement.  The  greater  the  risk 
—  for  the  '  Fox '  was  to  be  launched  alone  into 
those  turbulent  seas  from  which  every  other  ves 
sel  had  long  since  been  withdrawn  —  the  more 
glorious  would  be  the  success,  the  more  honora 
ble  even  the  defeat,  if  again  defeat  awaits  us. 

Upon  the  last  day  of  June,  Lady  Franklin, 
accompanied  by  her  niece  Miss  Sophia  Cracroft, 
and  Capt.  Maguire,  R.  N.,  came  on  board  to  bid  us 
farewell,  for  we  purposed  sailing  in  the  evening. 
Seeing  how  deeply  agitated  she  was  on  leaving 
the  ship,  I  endeavored  to  repress  the  enthusiasm 
of  my  crew,  but  without  avail ;  it  found  vent  in 
three  prolonged,  hearty  cheers.  The  strong  feel 
ing  which  prompted  them  was  truly  sincere ;  and 
this  unbidden  exhibition  of  it  can  hardly  have 
gratified  her  for  whom  it  was  intended  more  than 
it  did  myself. 

I  must  here  insert  the  only  written  instructions 
I  could  prevail  upon  Lady  Franklin  to  give  me ; 
they  were  not  read  until  the  '  Fox '  was  fairly  in 
the  Atlantic. 

ABERDEEN,  June  29,  1857. 
MY  DEAR  CAPTAIN  M'CLINTOCK, 

You  have  kindly  invited  me   to   give   you    "Instruc 
tions,"  but  I  cannot  bring  myself  to  feel  that  it  would  be  right 


12  LADY  FRANKLIN'S  INSTRUCTIONS.         CHAP    L 

in  me  in  any  way  to  influence  your  judgment  in  the  conduct  of 
your  noble  undertaking ;  and  indeed  I  have  no  temptation  to 
do  so,  since  it  appears  to  me  that  your  views  are  almost  iden 
tical  with  those  which  I  had  independently  formed  before  I  had 
the  advantage  of  being  thoroughly  possessed  of  yours.  But 
had  this  been  otherwise,  I  trust  you  would  have  found  me 
ready  to  prove  the  implicit  confidence  I  place  in  you  by  yield 
ing  my  own  views  to  your  more  enlightened  judgment ;  know 
ing  too  as  I  do  that  your  whole  heart  also  is  in  the  cause,  even 
as  my  own  is.  As  to  the  objects  of  the  expedition  and  their 
relative  importance,  I  am  sure  you  know  that  the  rescue  of  any 
possible  survivor  of  the  '  Erebus '  and  '  Terror '  would  be  to 
me,  as  it  would  be  to  you,  the  noblest  result  of  our  efforts. 

To  this  object  I  wish  every  other  to  be  subordinate ;  and 
next  to  it  in  importance  is  the  recovery  of  the  unspeakably 
precious  documents  of  the  expedition,  public  and  private,  and 
the  personal  relics  of  my  dear  husband  and  his  companions. 

And  lastly,  I  trust  it  may  be  in  your  power  to  confirm, 
directly  or  inferentially,  the  claims  of  my  husband's  expedition 
to  the  earliest  discovery  of  the  passage,  which,  if  Dr.  Rae's 
report  be  true  (and  the  Government  of  our  country  has  ac 
cepted  and  rewarded  it  as  such),  these  martyrs  in  a  noble 
cause  achieved  at  their  last  extremity,  after  five  long  years  of 
labor  and  suffering,  if  not  at  an  earlier  period. 

I  am  sure  you  will  do  all  that  man  can  do  for  the  attainment 
of  all  these  objects  ;  my  only  fear  is  that  you  may  spend  ycur- 
selves  too  much  in  the  effort ;  and  you  must  therefore  let  me 
tell  you  how  much  dearer  to  me  even  than  any  of  them  is  the 
preservation  of  the  valuable  lives  of  the  little  band  of  heroes 
who  are  your  companions  and  followers. 

May  God  in  his  great  mercy  preserve  you  all  from  harm 
amidst  the  labors  and  perils  which  await  you,  and  restore  you 
to  us  in  health  and  safety  as  well  as  honor !  As  to  the  honor  I 
can  have  no  misgiving.  It  will  be  yours  as  much  if  you  fail 
tsince  you  may  fail  in  spite  of  every  effort)  as  if  you  succeed; 
dn 2  be  assured  that,  under  any  and  all  circumstances  whatever^ 


JULY,  1857.  ORKNEYS  AND  GREENLAND.  U 

such  is  my  unbounded  confidence  in  you,  you  will  ever  possess 
and  be  entitled  to  the  enduring  gratitude  of  your  sincere  and 
attached  friend, 

JANE  FRANKLIN. 

We  were  not  destined  to  get  to  sea  that  even 
ing.  The  '  Fox/  hitherto  during  her  brief  career, 
accustomed  only  to  the  restraint  imposed  upon  a 
gilded  pet  in  summer  seas,  seemed  to  have  got  an 
inkling  that  her  duty  henceforth  was  to  combat 
with  difficulties,  and,  entering  fully  into  the  spirit 
of  the  cruise,  answered  her  helm  so  much  more 
readily  than  the  pilot  expected  that  she  ran 
aground  upon  the  bar.  She  was  promptly  shored 
up,  and  remained  in  that  position  until  next 
morning,  when  she  floated  off  unhurt  at  high 
water,  and  commenced  her  long  and  lonely 
voyage. 

Scarcely  had  we  left  the  busy  world  behind 
us  when  we  were  actively  engaged  in  making 
arrangements  for  present  comfort  and  future 
exertion.  How  busy,  how  happy,  and  how  full 
of  hope  we  all  were  then ! 

On  the  night  of  the  2d  of  July  we  passed 
through  the  Pentland  Firth,  where  the  tide  rush 
ing  impetuously  against  a  strong  wind  raised  up 
a  tremendous  sea,  amid  which  the  little  vessel 
struggled  bravely  under  steam  and  canvas.  The 
bleak  wild  shores  of  Orkney,  the  still  wilder 
pilot's  crew,  and  their  hoarse  screams  and  unin 
telligible  dialect,  the  shrill  cry  of  innumerable 


H  GREENLAND.  CHAP.  I. 

sea-birds,  the  howling  breeze  and  angry  sea,  made 
us  feel  as  if  we  had  suddenly  awoke  in  Green 
land  itself.  The.  southern  extremity  of  that  ice- 
locked  continent  became  visible  on  the  12th.  It 
is  quaintly  named  Cape  Farewell ;  but  whether 
by  some  sanguine  outward-bound  adventurer  who 
fancied  that  in  leaving  Greenland  behind  him  he 
Lad  already  secured  his  passage  to  Cathay ;  or 
whether  by  the  wearied  homesick  mariner,  feebly 
escaping  from  the  grasp  of  winter  in  his  shattered 
bark,  and  firmly  purposing  to  bid  a  long  farewell 
to  this  cheerless  land,  history  altogether  fails  to 
enlighten  us. 

From  January  until  July  this  coast  is  usually 
rendered  unapproachable  by  a  broad  margin  of 
heavy  ice,  which  drifts  there  from  the  vicinity  of 
Spitzbergen,  and,  lapping  round  the  Cape,  extends 
alongshore  to  the  northward  about  as  far  as  Baal's 
River,  a  distance  of  250  miles.  Although  it  effect 
ually  blockades  the  ports  of  South  Greenland  for 
the  greater  part  of  the  summer,  and  is  justly 
dreaded  by  the  captains  of  the  Greenland  traders, 
it  confers  important  benefits  upon  the  Green- 
lander  by  bearing  to  his  shores  immense  numbers 
of  seals  and  many  bears.  The  same  current 
which  conveys  hither  all  this  ice  is  also  freighted 
with  a  scarcely  less  valuable  supply  of  driftwood 
from  the  Siberian  rivers. 

About  this  time,  one  of  my  crew  showing 
symptoms  of  diseased  lungs,  I  determined  to 


JULY,  1857.  SPITZBERGEN  ICE.  15 

embrace  the  earliest  opportunity  of  sending  him 
home  out  of  a  climate  so  fatal  to  those  who  are 
thus  affected  ;  and  having  learnt  from  Mr.  Peter- 
sen,  who  had  quitted  Greenland  only  in  April 
last,  that  a  vessel  would  very  soon  leave  Freder- 
ickshaab  for  Copenhagen,  I  resolved  to  go  to 
that  place  in  order  to  catch  this  homeward-bound 


It  was  necessary  to  push  through  the  Spitzber- 
gen  ice,  and  we  fortunately  succeeded  in  doing  so 
after  eighteen  hours  of  buffeting  with  this  formi 
dable  enemy  ;  at  first  we  found  it  tolerably  loose, 
and  the  wind  being  strong  and  favorable,  we 
thumped  along  pleasantly  enough  ;  but  as  we  ad 
vanced,  the  ice  became  much  more  closely  packed, 
a  thick  fog  came  on,  and  many  hard  knocks  were 
exchanged;  at  length  our  steam  carried  us 
through  into  the  broad  belt  of  clear  water  be 
tween  the  ice  and  land,  which  Petersen  assures 
me  always  exists  here  at  this  season. 

The  dense  fog  now  prevented  farther  progress, 
and  as  evening  closed  in  I  gave  up  all  hope  of 
improvement  for  the  night,  when  suddenly  the 
fog  rolled  back  upon  the  land,  disclosing  some 
islets  close  to  us,  then  the  rugged  points  of  main 
land,  and  at  length,  lifting  altogether,  the  distant 
snowy  mountain-peaks  against  a  deep  blue  sky. 

The  evening  became  bright  and  delightful; 
the  whole  extent  of  coast  was  fringed  with  innu 
merable  islets,  backed  by  lofty  mountains,  and, 


16  FINE  ARCTIC  SCEXERY.  CHAP.  I. 

being  richly  tinted  by  a  glorious  western  sun. 
formed  an  unusually  splendid  sight.  Greenland 
unveiled  to  our  anxious  gaze  that  memorable 
evening,  all  the  magnificence  of  her  natural 
beauty.  Was  it  to  welcome  us  that  she  thus  cast 
off  her  dingy  outer  mantle,  and  shone  forth 
radiant  with  smiles?  —  such  winning  smiles  ! 

A  faint  streak  of  mist?  which  we  could  not 
account  for,  appeared  to  iloat  across  a  low,  wide 
interval  in  the  mountain  range ;  the  telescope 
revealed  its  true  character, —  it  was  a  portion  of 
the  distant  glacier.  We  found  ourselves  upon  the 
Tallard  Bank,  30  miles  north  of  our  port,  having 
been  rapidly  carried  northwards  by  the  Spitzber- 
gen  current. 

July  20//4.  —  This  morning  the  chief  trader  of 
the  settlement,  or,  as  he  is  more  usually  styled  by 
the  English,  the  Governor,  came  off  to  us,  and  his 
pilot  soon  conducted  us  into  the  safe  little  harbor 
of  Frederickshaab.  I  was  much  gratified  to  learn 
that  we  were  just  in  time  to  secure  a  passage 
home  for  our  ailing  shipmate. 

For  trading  purposes  Greenland  is  monopolized 
by  the  Danish  government ;  its  Esquimaux  and 
mixed  population  amount  to  about  7000  souls. 
About  1000  Danes  reside  constantly  there  for  the 
purpose  of  conducting  the  trade,  which  consists 
almost  exclusively  in  the  exchange  of  European 
goods  for  oil  and  the  skins  of  seals,  reindeer,  and 
a  few  other  animals. 


JULY,  1857.    DANISH  ESTABLISHMENTS,  GREENLAND.     17 

The  Esquimaux  are  not  subject  to  Danish  laws, 
but  although  proud  of  their  nominal  independence 
they  are  sincerely  attached  to  the  Danes,  and 
with  abundant  reason ;  a  Lutheran  clergyman,  a 
doctor,  and  a  schoolmaster,  whose  duty  it  is  to 
give  gratuitous  instruction  and  relief,  are  paid  by 
the  Government,  and  attached  to  each  district; 
and  when  these  improvident  people  are  in  dis 
tress,  which  not  ^infrequently  happens  during  the 
long  winters,  provisions  are  issued  to  them  free 
of  cost;  spirits  are  strictly  prohibited.  All  of 
them  have  become  Christians,  and  many  can  read 
and  \vrite. 

Have  we  English  done  more,  or  as  much,  for 
the  aborigines  in  any  of  our  numerous  colonies, 
and  especially  for  the  Esquimaux  within  our  own 
territories  of  Labrador  and  Hudson's  Bay  ? 

Greenland  is  divided  into  two  inspectorates, 
the  northern  and  southern ;  the  inspector  of  the 
latter  division,  Dr.  Rink,  had  arrived  at  Freder- 
ickshaab  upon  his  summer  round  of  visits  only 
the  day  previous  to  ourselves.  He  came  on  board 
to  call  upon  me,  and  after  Divine  service  I  landed, 
and  enjoyed  a  ramble  with  him  over  the  moss- 
clad  hills.  Our  first  meeting  was  in  North  Green 
land,  in  1848;  we  had  not  seen  one  another  since, 
so  we  had  much  to  talk  about.  Dr.  Rink  is  a  gen 
tleman  of  acknowledged  talent,  a  distinguished 
traveller,  and  is  thoroughly  conversant  with  the 
sciences  of  geology  and  botany. 


18  FREDERICKSHAAB,  DAVIS'  STRAITS.         CHAP.  I. 

Unfortunately  for  me  his  excellent  work  on 
Greenland  has  not  been  translated  into  English. 

We  were  kindly  permitted  to  purchase  oight 
tons  of  coals,  and  such  small  things  as  were  re 
quired  ;  the  only  fresh  supplies  to  be  obtained 
besides  codfish,  which  was  abundant,  consisted  of 
a  very  few  ptarmigan  and  hares,  and  a  couple  v  f 
kids ;  these  last  are  scarce.  Some  goats  exist, 
but  for  eight  months  out  of  the  year  they  are 
shut  up  in  a  house,  and  even  now --in  midsum 
mer,  —  are  only  let  out  in  the  daytime.  We  also 
purchased  of  the  Esquimaux  some  specimens  of 
Esquimaux  workmanship,  such  as  models  of  the 
native  dresses,  kayaks,  etc.,  also  birds'  skins  and 
eggs.  I  saw  fine  specimens  of  a  white  swan,  and 
of  a  bird  said  to  be  extremely  rare  in  Greenland, 
-  it  was  a  species  of  grebe,  Podlccps  cmlatus,  I 
imagine.  Frederickshaab  is  just  now  well  sup 
plied  with  wood :  besides  an  unseaworthy  brig, 
the  wreck  of  a  large  timber-ship  lay  on  the 
beach,  and  an  abandoned  timber-vessel,  which  was 
met  with  between  Iceland  and  Greenland  in  July 
by  Prince  Napoleon,  drifted  upon  the  coast  30 
miles  to  the  northward  in  the  following  Septem 
ber. 


JULV,  1857.  LICiiTENFELS.  19 


CHAPTEE    II. 

Fiskernaes  and  Esquimaux  —  The  '  Fox  '  reaches  Disco  —  Disco  Fiord 

—  Summer  scenery  —  Waigat  Strait  —  Coaling  from  the  mine  —  Pur 
chasing  Esquimaux  dogs  —  Heavy  gale  off  Upernivik  —  Melville  Bay 

—  The   middle    ice  —  The   great    glacier  of   Greenland  —  Reindeer 
cross  the  glacier. 


July.  —  SAILED  the  day  before  yesterday  for 
Godhaab.  The  fog  was  thick,  and  wind  strong 
and  -contrary,  but  the  current  being  favorable  we 
found  ourselves  off  the  small  out>station  of  Fisk 
ernaes,  when  early  this  morning  our  fore  topmast 
was  carried  away  ;  this  accident  induced  me  to 
run  in  and  anchor  for  the  purpose  of  repairing 
the  damage. 

After  passing  within  the  outer  islets,  the  Mora 
vian  settlement  of  Lichtenfels  came  in  view  upon 
the  right  hand  ;  it  consists  of  a  large,  sombre- 
looking  wooden  house,  over  which  is  a  belfry,  a 
smaller  wooden  house,  and  about  a  dozen  native 
huts,  roofed  with  sods,  and  scarcely  distinguish 
able  from  the  ground  they  stand  on,  even  at 
a  very  short  distance.  The  land  immediately 
behind  is  a  barren  rocky  steep,  now  just  suffi 
ciently  denuded  of  snow  to  look  desolate  in  the 
extreme.  A  strong  tide  was  setting  out  of  the 
fiord,  as  we  approached,  and  anchored  in  the 


20  FISKERNAES,  CHAP.  JJ. 

rocky  little  cove  of  Fiskernaes ;  here  we  were 
not  only  sheltered  from  the  wind,  but  the  steep 
dark  rocks  within  a  ship's  length  on  each  side  of 
us,  reflected  a  strong  heat,  whilst  large  mosquitoes 
lost  no  time  in  paying  us  their  annoying  visits. 
This  remote  spot  has  been  visited  by  the  Arctic 
voyagers,  Captain  Inglefield,  R.N.,  and  Dr.  Kane, 
U.S.N.,  and  still  more  recently  by  Prince  Napo 
leon.  Dr.  Kane's  account  of  his  visit  is  full  and 
very  interesting.  Cod-fishing  wTas  now  in  full 
activity,  and  the  few  men  not  so  employed  had 
gone  up  the  fiord  to  hunt  reindeer. 

The  solitary  dwelling-house  belongs,  of  course, 
to  the  chief  trader,  and  is  a  model  of  cleanliness 
and  order;  built  of  wood,  it  exhibits  all  the 
resources  of  the  painter's  art ;  the  exterior  is  a 
dull  red,  the  window-frames  are  white,  floors  yel 
low,  wooden  partitions  and  low  ceilings  pale  blue. 
The  ladjr  of  the  house  had  resided  here  for  about 
eight  years,  and  appeared  to  us  to  bs,  and  ac 
knowledged  she  was,  heartily  tired  of  the  solitude. 
She  gave  me  coffee,  and  some  seeds  for  cultiva 
tion  at  our  winter  quarters;  these  were  lettuce, 
spinach,  turnips,  carraway  and  peas,  the  latter 
being  the  common  kind  used  on  board  ship ; 
usually  they  have  only  produced  leaves  on  this 
spot,  but  once  the  young  peas  grew  large  enough 
for  the  table.  I  expressed  a  wish  to  see  the  inte 
rior  of  an  Esquimaux  tent.  Peterson  pulled  aside 
the  thin  membrane  of  some  animal,  which  hung 


FULY,  1857.  AND  ESQUIMAUX.  21 

across  the  doorway,  and  served  to  exclude  the 
wind,  but  admitted  light,  for,  although  past  mid 
night,  the  sun  was  up.  Some  seven  or  eight 
individuals  lay  within,  closely  packed  upon  the 
grpund ;  the  heads  of  old  and  young,  males  and 
females,  being  just  visible  above  the  common 
covering.  Going  to  bed  here,  only  means  lying 
down  with  your  clothes  on,  upon  a  reindeer  skin, 
wherever  you  can  find  room,  and  pulling  another 
fur-robe  over  you. 

Fiskernaes  appeared  to  be  a  sunny  little  nook, 
yet  all  the  people  we  saw  there  were  suffering 
from  colds  and  coughs,  and  many  deaths  had 
occurred  during  the  spring.  The  boys  brought 
us  handfuls  of  rough  garnets,  some  of  them  as 
large  as  walnuts,  receiving  with  evident  satisfac 
tion  biscuits  in  exchange. 

By  next  morning  we  were  able  to  put  to  sea, 
and  early  on  the  day  following  arrived  off  the 
large  settlement  of  Godhaad ;  it  is  in  the  "  Gil 
bert  Sound  "  of  Davis,  and  appears  in  many  old 
charts  as  Baal's  Kiver.  Almost  adjoining  God- 
haab  is  the  Moravian  settlement  of  New  Herrnhut. 
Here  it  was  that  Hans  Egede,  the  missionary 
father  of  Greenland,  established  himself  in  1721, 
and  thus  re-opened  the  communication  between 
Europe  and  Greenland,  which  had  ceased  upon 
the  extinction  of  its  early  Scandinavian  settlers, 
in  the  14th  century. 

A  few  years  after  Egede's  successful  beginning, 


22  MORAVIAN  MISSIONS.  CHAP  II 

the  Moravian  mission  still  existing  under  the 
name  of  New  Ilerrnlmt  was  established.  At 
present  the  Moravians  support  four  missions  in 
Greenland;  they  are  not  subject  to  the  Danish 
authorities,  but  are  not  permitted  in  any  way  to 
trade. 

As  we  were  about  to  enter  the  harbor,  the 
Danish  vessel  —  the  sole  object  of  our  visit  - 
came  out,  so  not  a  moment  was  lost  in  sending 
on  board  our  invalid  and  our  letter-bag,  and  in 
landing  our  coasting  pilot.  This  man  had  brought 
us  up  from  Frederickshaab  for  the  very  moderate 
sum  of  three  pounds ;  he  was  an  Esquimaux,  and, 
as  the  brother  of  poor  Hans,  Dr.  Kane's  unhappy 
dog-driver,  was  received  with  favor  amongst  us, 
and  soon  won  our  esteem  by  his  quiet,  obliging 
disposition,  as  also  by  his  ability  in  the  discharge 
of  his  duty ;  he  was  so  keensighted,  and  so  vigi 
lant,  it  was  quite  a  comfort  to  have  him  on  board 
during  the  foggy  weather,  for  he  could  recognise, 
on  the  instant,  every  rock  or  point,  even  when 
dimly  looming  through  the  mist.  We  were  not 
long  in  discovering  that  his  absence  was  a  loss  to 
us. 

When  passing  out  to  the  north  of  the  Kookor- 
nen  Islands,  the  wind  suddenly  failed,  and  at  'the 
same  time  a  swell  from  to  seaward  reached  us ; 
we  therefore  had  considerable  difficulty  in  towing 
the  ship  clear  of  the  rocks;  for  nearly  half  an 
hour  our  position  was  most  critical. 


JULY,  1857.  THE  'FOX '  REACHES  DISCO.  23 

July  31s/. — Anchored  at  Godhaven  (or  Lievely), 
in  Disco,  for  a  few  hours.  I  presented  a  letter 
from  the  Directors  of  the  Royal  Greenland  C^m- 
merce  to  the  Inspector  of  North  Greenland,  Mr. 
Olrik,  authorising  him  to  furnish  us  with  any 
needful  supplies.  Our  only  wants  were  sledge- 
dogs  and  a  native  to  manage  them.  We  soon 
obtained  ten  of  the  former,  but  were  advised  to 
go  into  Disco  Fiord,  where  many  of  the  Esqui 
maux  were  busy  in  taking  and  drying  salmon- 
trout,  and  where  some  would  most  probably  be 
obtained. 

I  was  much  pleased  with  Mr.  Olrik's  kind  recep 
tion  of  me,  and  soon  found  him  to  be  not  only 
agreeable  but  well  informed ;  born  in  Greenland, 
of  Danish  parents,  he  is  thoroughly  conversant 
with  the  language  and  habits  of  the  Esquimaux, 
and  has  devoted  much  of  his  leisure  time  in  col 
lecting  rare  specimens  of  the  animal,  vegetable, 
and  mineral  productions  of  the  country.  I  came 
away  enriched  by  some  fossils  from  the  fossil 
forest  of  Atanekerdluk,  also  with  specimens  of 
native  coal. 

It  was  here  I  met  with  the  late  commanders 
of  the  whalers  '  Gipsy '  and  '  Undaunted,'  of 
Peterhcad,  which  had  been  crushed  by  the  ice 
in  Melville  Bay,  five  or  six  weeks  previously  j 
all  the  other  whalers  had  returned  from  the 
north,  along  the  pack  edge,  and  passed  south  of 
Disco.  They  said  that  the  ice  in  Melville  Bay 


24       .  DISCO  FIORD.  CHAP.  II 

was  all  broken  up,  and  that  they  thought  we 
should  find  but  little  difficulty  at  this  late  period 
in  passing  through  it  into  the  North  Water. 

Leaving  Godhaven  in  the  afternoon  with  a 
native  pilot,  we  found  ourselves  some  10  or  12 
miles  up  Disco  Fiord  at  an  early  hour  next  morn 
ing.  After  despatching  the  pilot  to  announce 
our  arrival  to  his  countrymen  at  their  fishing 
station,  7  or  8  miles  further  up,  the  Doctor  and  I 
landed  upon  the  north  side  to  explore. 

The  scenery  is  charming,  lofty  hills  of  trap 
rock,  with  unusually  rich  slopes  (for  the  70th 
parallel)  descending  to  the  fiord,  and  strewed 
with  boulders  of  gneiss  and  granite.  We  found 
the  blue  campanula  holding  a  conspicuous  place 
amongst  the  wild  flowers.  I  do  not  know  a  more 
enticing  spot  in  Greenland  for  a  week's  shooting, 
fishing,  and  yachting  than  Disco  Fiord ;  hares 
and  ptarmigan  may  be  found  along  the  bases  of 
the  hills;  ducks  are  most  abundant  upon  the 
fiord,  and  delicious  salmon-trout  very  plentiful 
in  the  rivers.  Formerly  Disco  was  famed  for 
the  large  size  and  abundance  of  its  reindeer ;  but 
for  some  unexplained  reason  they  now  confine 
themselves  to  the  mainland. 

At  this  season  the  natives  of  Godhaab  resort 
here  and  enjoy  the.  trout  fishery,  —  it  is  truly 
their  season  of  harvest :  the  weather  is  pleasant, 
food  delicious  and  abundant,  and  the  labor  an 
agreeable  pastime. 


AUG.  1857.         CHRISTIAN,  THE  DOG-DRIVER.  25 

•Some  kayaks  soon  came  off  to  the  ship,  bring 
ing  salmon-trout,  both  fresh  and  smoked. 

A  young  Esquimaux,  named  Christian,  volun 
teered  his  services  as  oar  dog-driver,  and  was 
accepted ;  he  is  about  23  years  of  age,  unmar 
ried,  and  an  orphan.  The  men  soon  thoroughly 
washed  and  cropped  him  :  soap  and  scissors  being 
novelties  to  an  Esquimaux:  they  then  rigged 
him  in  sailor's  clothes ;  he  was  evidently  not  at 
home  in  them,  but  was  not  the  less  proud  of  his 
improved  appearance,  as  reflected  in  the  admir 
ing  glances  of  his  countrymen. 

We  now  hastened  away  to  the  Waigat  Strait  to 
complete  our  coals.  When  passing  Godhaven, 
the  pilot  was  launched  off  our  deck  in  his  little 
kayak  without  stopping  the  ship  !  As  a  kayak  is 
usually  about  18  feet  long,  8  inches  deep,  and 
only  16  or  17  inches  wide,  it  requires  great 
expertness  to  perform  such  a  feat  without  the 
addition  of  a  capsize. 

4.th  August.  —  Entered  the  Waigat  yesterday 
morning,  slowly  steaming  through  a  sea  of  glass. 
Its  surface  was  only  rippled  by  the  myriads  01 
eider-ducks  which  extended  over  it  for  several 
miles :  most  of  them  were  immature  in  plumage, 
and  were  probably  the  birds  of  last  year. 

After  running  about  24  miles,  towards  evening 

we  approached  a  low  range  of  sandstone  cliffs  on 

the  Disco  shore,  in  which  horizontal  scams  of  coal 

were  seen.     Here  we  anchored,  and  immediately 

3 


26  COALING  — WATGAi   SCENERY.  CEAP.  II. 

commenced  coaling.  It  was  fortunate  we  did  so, 
for  soon  it  began  to  blow  hard  ;  and  ere  noon 
to-day  we  were  obliged,  for  the  safety  of  the  ship, 
to  leave  our  exposed  anchorage,  having  however 
secured  eight  or  nine  tons  of  tolerable  coal.  For 
merly  these  coal-seams  were  worked  for  the  sup 
ply  of  the  neighboring  settlements,  but  for  several 
years  past  it  has  been  found  more  profitable  and 
convenient  to  send  out  coals  from  Denmark,  and 
thus  permit  the  natives  to  devote  their  whole 
time  to  the  seal-fishery. 

The  Waigat  scenery  is  unusually  grand;  the 
strait  varies  from  3  to  5  leagues  in  width  ;  on 

O 

each  side  are  mountains  of  3000  feet  in  height, 
The  Disco  side,  upon  which  we  landed,  is  com 
posed  of  trap,  sandstone  appearing  only  at  the 
beach,  and  occasionally  rising  in  cliffs  to  about 
100  feet.  Upon  the  moss-clad  slopes  many  frag 
ments  of  quartz  and  zeolite  were  met  with.  The 
north  end  of  Disco  is  almost  a  precipice  to  its 
snow-capped  summit,  which  is  4000  feet  high. 

5//4. —  A  pleasant  fair  wrind  carries  us  rapidly 
northward,  passing  many  icebergs.  Our  rigging 
is  richly  garnished  with  split  codfish,  which  we 
hoped  would  dry  and  keep ;  but  a  warm  day  in 
Disco  Fiord,  and  much  rain  with  a  southerly  gale 
in  the  Waigat,  have  destroyed  it  for  our  own 
use.  It  is  however  still  valuable  as  food  for  our 
dogs.  I  am  very  anxious  to  complete  my  stock  of 
these  our  native  auxiliaries,  as  without  them  we 


AUG.  Ib57.       PURCHASING  ESQUIMAUX  DOGS.  27 

cannot  hope  to  explore  all  the  lands  which  it  is 
the  object  of  our  voyage  to  search.  We  could 
only  obtain  ten  at  Godhaven,  and  require  twenty 
more. 

6//j. —  By  Petersen's  intimate  knowledge  of  the 
coast  we  wrere  enabled  to  run  close  in  to  the  little 
settlement  of  Proven  during  the  night,  and  obtain 
a,  few  dogs  and  dogs'  food.  This  morning  we 
reached  the  extreme  station  of  Upernivik,  the 
last  trace  of  civilization  we  shall  meet  with  for 
some  time.  It  is  in  lat.  72f  N.  Here  Petersen  re 
sided  for  twelve  of  the  eighteen  years  he  has  spent 
in  Greenland,  and  his  unlooked-for  re-appearance 
astonished  and  delighted  the  small  community, 
more  especially  Governor  Fliescher  and  his  house 
hold,  who  received  us  with  a  most  hearty  wel 
come. 

1th. —  Yesterday,  when  we  hove  to  off  Uper 
nivik,  the  weather  was  very  bad  and  rapidly 
growing  worse,  therefore  our  stay  was  limited  to  a 
couple  of  hours.  '  The  last  letters  for  home  were 
landed,  fourteen  dogs  and  a  quantity  of  seal's 
flesh  for  them  embarked,  aftd  the  ship's  head  was 
turned  seaward. 

It  was  then  blowing  a  southerly  gale,  with 
overcast  murky  sky,  and  a  heavy  sea  running. 
When  four  miles  outside  the  outer  island,  break 
ers  were  suddenly  discovered  ahead,  only  just  iri 
time  to  avoid  the  ledge  of  sunken  rocks  upon 
which  the  sea  was  beating  most  violently.  Many 


28  HEAVY  GALE  OFF  UPERNIVIK.  CHAP.  IL 

such  rocks  lie  at  considerable  distances  beyond 
the  islands  which  border  this  coast,  and  greatly 
add  to  the  dangers  of  its  navigation.  Being  now 
fairly  at  sea,  and  the  ship  under  easy  sail  for 
the  night,  I  went  early  to  bed  in  the  hope  of 
sleeping.  I  had  been  up  all  the  previous  night, 
naturally  anxious  about  the  ship  threading  her 
way  through  so  many  dangers,  uncertain  about 
being  able  to  complete  the  number  of  our  sledge- 
dogs,  and  much  occupied  in  closing  my  corre 
spondence,  to  which  there  would  be  an  end  for 
at  least  a  year.  All  this  over,  the  uncertain 
future  loomed  ominously  before  me.  The  great 
responsibilities  I  had  undertaken  seemed  now 
and  at  once  to  fall  with  all  their  weight  upon 
me.  A  mental  whirlpool  was  the  consequence, 
which,  backed  by  the  material  storm,  and  the 
howling  of  the  wretched  dogs  in  concert  on 
deck,  together  with  the  tumbling  about  of  every 
thing  below,  long  kept  sleep  in  abeyance. 

One  thought  and  feeling  predominated :  it 
wras  gratitude,  deep  and  humble,  for  the  success 
which  had  hitherto  attended  us,  and  for  some 
narrow  escapes  which  I  must  ever  regard  as 
Providential. 

Yesterday's  gale  has  given  place  to  calm  foggy 
weather.  An  occasional  iceberg  is  seen.  The 
officers  amuse  themselves  in  trying  new  guns, 
and  shooting  sea-birds  for  our  dogs. 

Governor  Fliescher  told  me  yesterday  that  for 


AUG.  1857.      PASSAGE  THROUGH  BAFFIN'S  BAY.  29 

the  last  four  weeks  southerly  winds  prevailed, 
and  that  only  a  fortnight  ago  his  boat  was  unable 
to  reach  the  Loom  Cliffs  at  Cape  Shackleton,  50 
miles  north  of  Upernivik,  in  consequence  of  the 
ice  being  pressed  in  against'  the  land.  I  fear 
these  same  winds  have  closed  together  the  ice 
which  occupies  the  middle  of  Davis'  Strait  (hence 
called  the  middle  ice),  so  that  we  shall  not  be 
able  to  penetrate  it.  However,  we  are  standing 
out  to  make  the  attempt. 

To  the  uninitiated  it  may  be  as  well  to  observe 
that  each  winter  the  sea  called  Baffin's  Bay 
freezes  over;  in  spring  this  vast  body  of  ice 
breaks  up,  and  drifting  southward  in  a  mass — 
called  the  main-pack,  or  the  middle  ice- — ob 
structs  the  passage  across  from  east  to  west. 

The  "  North  Passage  "  is  made  by  sailing  round 
the  north  end  of  this  pack ;  the  "  Middle  Passage," 
by  pushing  through  it ;  and  the  u  Southern  Pas 
sage,"  by  passing  round  its  southern  extreme; 
but  seasons  do  occur  when  none  of  these  routes 
are  practicable. 

It  is  very  remarkable  that  southward  of  Disco 
northerly  winds  have  prevailed.  They  greatly 
impeded  our  progress  up  Davis'  Strait,  but  we 
cheered  ourselves  with  the  hope  that  they  would 
effectually  clear  a  path  for  us  across  the  northern 
part  of  Baffin's  Bay. 

8//z  — Last  night  we  reached  the  edge  of  the 
middle  ice,  about  70  miles  to  the  west  of  Uper- 


30  MELVILLE  BAY.  CHAP.  IL 

nivik,  and  ran  southward  along  its  edge  all  night 
This  morning,  in  thick  fog,  the  ship  was  caught 
in  its  margin  of  loose  ice.  The  fog  soon  after 
cleared  off,  and  we  saw  the  clear  sea  about  two 
miles  to  the  eastward,  whilst  all  to  the  west  was 
impenetrable  closely-packed  floe-pieces.  After 
steaming  out  of  our  predicament  (a  matter  which 
we  could  not  accomplish  under  sail)  we  ran  on  to 
the  southward  until  evening,  but  found  the  pack 
edge  still  composed  of  light  ice  very  closely 
pressed  together. 

Having  now  closely  examined  it  for  an  extent 
of  40  miles,  I  was  satisfied  that  we  could  not  force 
a  passage  through  it  across  Baffin's  Bay,  as  is 
frequently  done  in  ordinary  seasons;  therefore, 
taking  advantage  of  a  fair  wind,  we  steered  to 
the  northward,  in  order  to  seek  an  opening  in 
that  direction. 

12t7i. — We  are  in  Melville  Bay ;  made  fast  this 
afternoon  to  an  iceberg,  which  lies  aground  in 
58  fathoms  water,  about  2  miles  from  Browne's 
Islands,  and  between  them  and  the  great  glacier 
which  here  takes  the  place  of  the  coast-line. 

We  have  got  thus  far  without  any  difficulty, 
sailing  along  the  edge  of  the  middle  ice;  but 
here  we  find  it  pressing  in  against  Browne's  Isl 
ands,  and  covering  the  whole  bay  to  the  north 
ward,  quite  in  the  steep  face  of  the  glacier.  This 
is  evidently  tie  result  of  long-continued  south 
erly  winds;  but  as  the  ice  is  very  much  broken 


Auo.  1357.  THE  MIDDLE  ICE.  31 

up,  we  may  expect  it  to  move  off  rapidly  be 
fore  the  autumnal  northerly  winds  now  due,  and 
these  winds  invariably  remove  the  previous  sea 
son's  ice.  All  that  we  know  of  Melville  Bay 
navigation  in  August,  is  derived  from  the  expe 
rience  of  Government  and  private  searching  ex 
peditions  during  eight  or  nine  seasons.  My  own 
three  previous  transits  across  it  were  made  in 
this  month.  The  whalers  either  get  through  in 
June  or  July,  or  give  up  the  attempt  as  being 
too  late  for  their  fishing.  It  frequently  happens 
that  they  get  round  the  south  end  of  the  middle 
ice,  between  latitudes  66°  and  69°  N.,  and  up 
the  west  coast  of  Baffin's  Bay  late  in  the  season ; 
but  we  have  no  accounts  of  these  voyages,  nor 
should  I  be  justified,  at  this  late  period  of  the 
season,  in  abandoning  the  prospect  before  me,  in 
order  to  attempt  a  route  which,  even  if  success 
ful,  would  lengthen  our  voyage  to  Barrow  Strait 
by  700  or  800  miles.  We  have  already  passed 
what  is  usually  the  most  difficult  and  dangerous 
part  of  the  Melville  Bay  transit. 

There  is  much  to  excite  intense  admiration 
and  wonder  around  us ;  one  cannot  at  once  appre 
ciate  the  grandeur  of  this  mighty  glacier,  extend 
ing  unbroken  for  40  or  50  miles.  Its  sea-cliffs, 
about  5  or  6  miles  from  us,  appear  comparatively 
low,  yet  the  icebergs  detached  from  it  are  of 
the  loftiest  description.  Here,  on  the  spot,  it 
does  not  seem  incorrect  to  compare  the  icebergs 


32  GREAT  GLACIER  OF  GREENLAND.         UHAP.  II 

to  mere  drippings  off  its  edge,  and  the  floe-ice  to 
the  thinnest  shavings. 

The  far-off  outline  of  glacier,  seen  against  the 
eastern  sky,  has  a  faint  tinge  of  yellow;  it  is 
almost  horizontal,  and  of  unknown  distance  and 
elevation. 

There  is  an  unusual  dearth  of  birds  and  seals ; 
everything  around  us  is  painfully  still,  excepting 
when  an  occasional  iceberg  splits  off  from  the 
parent  glacier ;  then  we  hear  a  rumbling  crash 
like  distant  thunder,  and  the  wave  occasioned 
by  the  launch  reaches  us  in  six  or  seven  minutes, 
and  makes  the  ship  roll  lazily  for  a  similar  period. 
I  cannot  imagine  that  within  the  whole  compass 
of  nature's  varied  aspects,  there  is  presented  to 
the  human  eye  a  scene  so  well  adapted  for  pro 
moting  deep  and  serious  reflection,  for  lifting  the 
thoughts  from  trivial  things  of  every  day  life  to 
others  of  the  highest  import. 

The  glacier  serves  to  remind  one  at  once  of 
Time  and  of  Eternity  —  of  time,  since  we  see 
portions  of  it  break  off  to  drift  and  melt  away ; 
and  of  eternity,  since  its  downward  march  is  so 
extremely  slow,  and  its  augmentations  behind  so 
regular,  that  no  change  in  its  appearance  is  per 
ceptible  from  age  to  age.  If  even  the  untaught 
savages  of  luxuriant  tropical  regions  regard  the 
earih  merely  as  a  temporary  abode,  surely  all 
who  gaze  upon  this  ice-overwhelmed  region,  this 
wide  expanse  of  "  terrestrial  wreck/'  must  be 


AUG.  1857.       GREAT  GLACIER  OF  GREENLAND.  33 

similarly  assured   that  here  "we  have   no  abid 
ing  place." 

During  daytime  the  strong  glare  is  very  dis- 
trefjsing,  hence  the  subdued  light  of  midnight, 
when  the  sun  just  skims  along  the  northern 
horizon,  is  much  the  most  agreeable  part  of  the 
twenty-four  hours;  the  temperature  varies  be 
tween  30°  and  40°  of  Fahrenheit, 
i 

The  drift>ice  of  various  descriptions  about  us 
is  constantly  in  motion  under  the  influence  of 
mysterious  surface  and  under  currents  (according 
to  their  relative  depths  of  floatation),  which  whirl 
them  about  in  every  possible  direction. 

To  the  S.E.  are  two  small  islands,  almost  envel 
oped  in  the  glacier,  and  far  within  it  an  occasional 
mountain-peak  protrudes  from  beneath. 

From  observing  closely  the  variations  in  the 
glacier  surface,  I  think  we  may  safely  infer  tha', 
where  it  lies  unbroken  and  smooth,  the  support 
ing  land  is  level ;  and  where  much  crevassed,  the 
land  beneath  is  uneven.  The  crevassed  parts  are 
of  course  impassable,  but,  by  following  the  wind 
ings  of  the  smooth  surface,  I  think  the  interior 
could  be  reached.  Some  attempts  to  cross  the 
glacier  in  South  Greenland  have  failed,  yet,  by 
studying  its  character  and  attending  to  this 
remark,  I  think  places  might  be  found  where 
an  attempt  would  succeed.  Mr.  Petersen  tell?; 
me  that  the  Esquimaux  of  Upernivik  are  unable; 

to  account  for  occasional  disappearances  and  re- 

c 


34  REINDEER  CROSS  THE  GLACIER.        CHAP.  II 

appearances  of  immense  herds  of  reindeer,  except 
by  assuming  that  they  migrate  at  intervals  to 
feeding-grounds  beyond  the  glacier,  the  surface 
of  which  he  also  says  is  smooth  enough  in  many 
places  even  for  dog-sledges  to  travel  upon.  As 
there  is  much  uninhabited  land,  both  to  the 
northward  and  southward  of  Upernivik,  I  do  not 
see  the  necessity  for  this  supposition.  The  habits 
of  the  Esquimaux  confine  them  almost  exclu 
sively  to  the  islands  and  sea-coasts. 


I :  S  1  .  . 

Auo   1857.  MELVILLE  BAY\£*  J,5 

'  4&z 


CHAPTER   III. 

Melville  Bay  —  Beset  in  Melville  Bay —  Signs  of  Winter  —  The  coining 
storm  —  Drifting  in  the  pack  —  Canine  appetite  —  Kesigned  to  a  winter 
in  the  pack  —  Dinner  stolen  by  sharks  —  The  Arctic  shark  —  White 
Whales  and  Killers. 

15th  August. — THREE  days  of  the  most  perfect 
calm  have  .sadly  taxed  our  patience.  Lovely 
bright  weather,  but  scarcely  a  living  creature 
seen.  This  afternoon  the  anxiously-looked-for 
north  wind  sprang  up,  and  immediately  the  light 
ice  began  to  drift  away  before  it,  but  it  is  not 
strong  enough  to  influence  the  icebergs,  and  they 
greatly  retard  the  clearing-out  of  the  bay.  We 
heve  noticed  a  constant  wind  oft*  the  glacier, 
probably  the  result  of  its  cooling  effect  upon  the 
atmosphere ;  this  wind  does  not  extend  more  than 
3  or  4  miles  out  from  it. 

16^.  —  One  of  the  loveliest  mornings  imagin 
able  :  the  icebergs  sparkled  in  the  sun,  and  the 
breeze  was  just  sufficiently  strong  to  ripple  the 
patches  of  dark  blue  sea ;  beyond  this,  there  was 
nothing  to  cheer  one  in  the  prospect  from  the 
Crow's-nest  at  four  o'clock  ;  but  little  change  had 
taken  place  in  the  ice;  I  therefore  determined 
to  run  back  along  the  pack-edge  to  the  south- 
westward,  in  the  hope  that  some  favorable  change 


36  MELVILLE  BAY.  CHAP.  Ill 

might  have  taken  place  further  off  shore.  The 
barometer  was  unusually  low,  yet  no  indication 
of  any  change  of  weather.  A  seaman's  chest  was 
picked  up ;  it  contained  only  a  spoon,  a  fork,  and 
some  tin  canisters,  and  probably  drifted  here  from 
the  southward,  where  the  two  whale-ships  were 
crushed  in  June,  affording  another  proof  of  the 
prevalence  of  southerly  winds.  As  we  steamed 
on,  the  ice  was  found  to  have  opened  consider 
ably  ;  it  fell  calm,  and  mist  was  observed  rolling 
along  the  glacier  from  the  southward.  By  noon 
a  S.E.  wind  reached  us;  all  sail  was  set,  the  leads 
or  lanes  of  water  became  wider,  and  our  hopes  of 
speedily  crossing  Melville  Bay  rose  in  proportion 
as  our  speed  increased.  We  are  pursuing  our 
course  without  let  or  hindrance. 

\lth. — The  fog  overtook  us  yesterday  evening, 
and  at  length,  unable  to  see  our  way,  we  made 
fast  at  eleven  o'clock  to  the  ice.  The  wind  had 
freshened,  it  was  evidently  blowing  a  gale  outside 
the  ice.  'During  the  night  we  drifted  rapidly 
together  with  the  ice,  and  this  morning,  on  the 
clearing  off  of  the  fog7  we  steamed  and  sailed  on 
again,  threading  our  way  between  the  floes,  which 
are  larger  and  much  covered  with  dry  snow. 
This  evening  we  again  made  fast,  the  floes  having 
closed  together,  cutting  off  advance  and  retreat. 
A  wintry  night,  much  wind  and  snow. 

19//4.  —  Continued  strong  S.E.  winds,  pressing 
the  ice  closely  together,  dark  sky  and  snow; 


AUG.  1857.  MELVILLE  BAY.  37 

everything  wears  a  wintry  and  threatening  as 
pect;  we  are  closely  hemmed  in,  and  have  our 
rudder  and  screw  unshipped.  This  recommence 
ment  of  S.E.  winds  <md  rapid  ebbing  of  the 
small  remaining  portion  of  summer  makes  me 
more  anxious  about  the  future  than  the  present. 
Yesterday  the  weather  improved,  and  by  working 
for  thirteen  hours  we  got  the  ship  out  of  her 
small  ice-creek  into  a  larger  space  of  water,  and 
in  so  doing  advanced  a  mile  and  a  half.  It  is 
now  calm,  but  the  ice  still  drifts,  as  we  would 
wish  it,  to  the  N.W.  Yesterday  we  were  within 
12  miles  of  the  position  of  the  6 Enterprise'  upon 
the  same  day  in  1848,  and  under  very  similar 
conditions  of  weather  and  ice  also. 

20th. —  No  favorable  ice-drift:  this  detention 
has  become  most  painful.  The  ' Enterprise* 
reached  the  open  water  upon  this  day  in  1848, 
within  50  miles  of  our  present  position ;  unfor 
tunately,  our  prospects  are  not  so  cheering. 
There  is  no  relative  motion  in  the  floes  of  ice, 
except  a  gradual  closing  together,  the  small 
spaces  and  streaks  of  water  being  still  further 
diminished.  The  temperature  has  fallen,  and  is 
usually  below  the  freezing-point.  I  feel  most 
keenly  the  difficulty  of  my  position ;  we  cannot 
afford  to  lose  many  more  days.  Of  all  the 
voyages  to  Barrow  Strait,  there  are  but  two 
which  were  delayed  beyond  this  date,  viz.,  Par 
ry's  in  1824,  and  the  <  Prince  Albert's'  in  1851. 

A. 


38  BESET  IN  MELVILLE  BAY.  CHAP.  III. 

Should  we  not  be  released,  and  therefore  be  com 
pelled  to  winter  in  this  pack,  notwithstanding  all 
our  efforts,  I  shall  repeat  the  trial  next  jear,  and 
in  the  end,  with  God's  aid,  perform  my  sacred 
duty. 

The  men  enjoy  a  game  of  rounders  on  the  ice 
each  evening ;  Petersen  and  Christian  are  con 
stantly  on  the  look-out  for  seals,  as  well  as  Hob- 
son  and  Young  occasionally ;  if  in  good  condition 
and  killed  instantaneously,  the  seals  float ;  several 
have  already  been  shot ;  the  liver  fried  with  ba 
con  is  excellent. 

Birds  have  become  scarce,  —  the  few  we  see 
are  returning  southward.  How  anxiously  I  watch 
the  ice,  weather,  barometer,  and  thermometer! 
Wind  from  any  other  quarter  than  S.E.  would 
oblige  the  floe-pieces  to  rearrange  themselves,  in 
doing  which  they  would  become  loose,  and  then 
would  be  our  opportunity  to  proceed. 

24^. —  Fine  weather  with  very  light  northerly 
winds.  We  have  drifted  7  miles  to  the  west  in 
the  last  two  days.  The  ice  is  now  a  close  pack, 
so  close  that  one  may  walk  for  many  miles  over 
it  in  any  direction,  by  merely  turning  a  little  to 
the  right  or  left,  to  avoid  the  small  water  spaces. 
My  frequent  visits  to  the  crow's-nest  are  not 
inspiriting:  how  absolutely  distressing  this  im 
prisonment  is  to  me,  no  one  without  similar  ex 
perience  can  form  any  idea.  As  yet  the  crew 
have  but  little  suspicion  how  blighted  our  pros 
pects  are. 


AUG.  1857.  BESET  IN  MELVILLE  BAT.  39 

27t/i.  —  We  daily  make  attempts  to  push  on, 
and  sometimes  get  a  ship's  length,  but  yesterday 
evening  we  made  a  mile  and  a  half!  the  ice  then 
closed  against  the  ship's  sides  and  lifted  her  about 
a  foot.  We  have  had  a  fresh  east  wind  for  two 
days,  but  no  corresponding  ice-drift  to  the  west ; 
this  is  most  discouraging,  and  can  only  be  ac 
counted  for  by  supposing  the  existence  of  much 
ice  or  grounded  icebergs  in  that  direction. 

The  dreaded  reality  of  wintering  in  the  pack 
is  gradually  forcing  itself  upon  my  mind, —  but  I 
must  not  write  on  this  subject,  it  is  bad  enough 
to  brood  over  it  unceasingly.  We  can  see  the 
land  all  round  Melville  Bay,  from  Cape  Walker 
nearly  to  Cape  York.  Petersen  is  indefatigable 
at  seal-shooting,  he  is  so  anxious  to  secure  them 
for  our  dogs;  he  says  they  must  be  hit  in  the 
head ;  "if  you  hit  him  in  the  beef  that  is  not 
good./'  meaning  that  a  flesh-wound  does  not  pre 
vent  their  escaping  under  the  ice.  Petersen  and 
Christian  practise  an  Esquimaux  mode  of  attract 
ing  the  seals ;  they  scrape  the  ice,  thus  making  a 
noise  like  that  produced  by  a  seal  in  making  a 
hole  with  its  flippers,  and  then  place  one  end  of 
a  pole  in  the  water  and  put  their  mouths  close  to 
the  other  end,  making  noises  in  imitation  of  the 
snorts  and  grunts  of  their  intended  victims ; 
whether  the  device  is  successful  or  not  I  do  not 
know,  but  it  looks  laughable  enough. 

•Christian  came  back   a  few  days  ago,  like   a 


40  SEAL  SHOOTING.  CHAP.  IIL 

true  seal-hunter,  carrying  his  kayak  on  his  head, 
and  dragging  a  seal  behind  him.  Only  two 
years  ago  Petersen  returned  across  this  bay  with 
Dr.  Kane's  retreating  party ;  he  shot  a  seal  which 
they  devoured  raw,  and  which  under  Providence, 
saved  their  lives.  Petersen  is  a  good  ice-pilot, 
knows  all  these  coasts  as  well  as  or  better  than 
any  man  living,  and,  from  long  experience  and 
habits  of  observation,  is  almost  unerring  in  his 
prognostications  of  the  weather.  Besides  his  great 
value  to  us  as  interpreter,  few  men  are  bet 
ter  adapted  for  Arctic  work,  —  an  ardent  sports 
man,  an  agreeable  companion,  never  at  a  loss  for 
occupation  or  amusement,  and  always  contented 
and  sanguine.  But  we  have  happily  many  such 
dispositions  in  the  '  Fox/ 

30^. —  The  whole  distance  across  Melville  Bay 
is  170  miles:  of  this  we  have  performed  about 
120,  40  of  which  we  have  drifted  in  the  last  four 
teen  days.  The  'Isabel*  sailed  freely  over  this 
spot  on  20th  August,  1852 ;  and  the  'North  Star' 
was  beset  on  30th  July,  1849,  to  the  southward 
of  Melville  Bay,  and  carried  in  the  ice  across  it 
and  some  70  or  80  miles  beyond,  when  she  was 
set  free  on  26th  September,  and  went  into  win 
ter  quarters  in  Wolstenholme  Sound.  What  a 
precedent  for  us ! 

Yesterday  we  set  to  work  as  usual  to  warp  the 
ship  along,  and  moved  her  ten  feet :  an  insig 
nificant  hummock  then  blocked  up  the  narrow 


FIG.    1. 


SKETCH    MAP   OF    THE    DRIFT  OF   THE    'FOX'    DOWN    BAFFIN'S    BAY 
THK    Kl-OATINQ    ICK. 


SEPT.  1357.  THE  COMING  STORM.  41 

passage;  as  we  could  not  push  it  before  us,  a 
two-pound  blasting  charge  was  exploded,  and  the 
surface  ice  was  shattered,  but  such  an  immense 
quantity  of  broken  ice  came  up  from  beneath, 
that  the  difficulty  was  greatly  increased  instead 
of  being  removed.  This  is  one  of  the  many 
instances  in  which  our  small  vessel  labors  under 
very  great  disadvantages  in  ice-navigation  — 
we  have  neither  sufficient  manual  power,  steam 
power,  nor  impetus  to  force  the  floes  asunder.  I 
am  convinced  that  a  steamer  of  moderate  size 
and  power,  with  a  crew  of  forty  or  fifty  men, 
would  have  got  through  a  hundred  miles  of  such 
ice  in  less  time  than  we  have  been  beset. 

The  temperature  fell  to  25°  last  night,  and  the 
pools  are  strongly  frozen  over.  I  now  look  mat 
ters  steadily  and  calmly  in  the  face ;  whilst  rea 
sonable  ground  for  hope  remained  I  was  anx 
ious  in  the  extreme.  The  dismal  prospect  of  a 
"winter  in  the  pack"  has  scarcely  begun  to  dawn 
upon  the  crew;  however,  I  do  not  think  they 
will  be  much  upset  by  it.  They  had  some  excit 
ing  foot-races  on  the  ice  yesterday  evening. 

1st  Sept.  —  The  indication  of  an  approaching 
S.E.  gale  are  at  all  times  sufficiently  apparent 
here,  and  fortunately  so,  as  it  is  the  dangerous  wind 
in  the  Melville  Bay.  It  was  on  the  morning  of  the 
30th,  before  church-time,  that  they  attracted  our 
attention  :  the  wind  was  very  light,  but  barometer 
low  and  falling ;  very  threatening  appearances  in 
4*  . 


42  DRIFTING  IN  THE  PACK.  CHAP.  Ill 

the  S.E.  quarter,  dark-blue  sky,  and  grey  detached 
clouds  slowly  rising ;  when  the  wind  commenced 
the  barometer  began  to  rise.  This  gale  lasted 
forty-eight  hours,  and  closed  up  every  little  space 
of  water;  at  first  all  the  ice  drifted  before  the 
wind,  but  latterly  remained  stationary.  Twenty 
seals  have  been  shot  up  to  this  time. 

On  comparing  Pctersen's  experience  with  my 
own  and  that  of  the  < North  Star'  in  1849,  it 
seems  probable  that  the  ice  along  the  shores  of 
Melville  Bay,  at  this  season,  will  drift  northward 
close  along  the  land  as  far  as  Cape  Parry,  where, 
meeting  with  a  S.W.  current  out  of  Whale  or 
Smith's  Sound,  it  will  be  carried  away  into  the 
middle  of  Baffin's  Bay,  and  thence  during  the 
winter  down  Davis'  Strait  into  the  Atlantic. 
From  Cape  Dudley  Digges  to  Cape  Parry,  includ 
ing  Wolstenholme  Sound,  open  water  remains 
until  October.  It  is  strange  that  we  have  ceased 
to  drift  lately  to  the  westward. 

Qth. —  During  the  last  week  we  have  only 
drifted  9  miles  to  the  west.  Obtained  soundings 
in  88  fathoms ;  this  is  a  discovery,  and  not  an 
agreeable  one.  Of  the  six  or  seven  icebergs  in 
sight,  the  nearest  are  to  the  west  of  us ;  they 
are  very  large,  and  appear  to  be  aground  ;  we 
approach  them  slowly.  Pleasant  weather,  but  the 
winds  are  much  too  gentle  to  be  of  service  to 
us;  although  the  nights  are  cold,  yet  during  the 
day  our  men  occasionally  do  their  sewing  on 


SE/-T.  1857.  DRIFTING  IN  THE  PACK.  43 

deck.  Our  companions  the  seals  are  larger  and 
fatter  than  formerly,  therefore  they  float  when 
shot ;  we  are  disposed  to  attribute  their  improved 
condition  to  the  better  feeding  upon  this  bank. 
The  dredge  brought  up  some  few  shell-fish,  star 
fish,  stones  and  much  soft  mud. 

m.—On  this  day,  in  1824,  Sir  Edward  Parry 
got  out  of  the  middle  ice,  and  succeeded  in  reach 
ing  Port  Bowen.  To  continue  hoping  for  release 
in  time  to  reach  Bellot  Strait  would  be  absurd ; 
yet  to  employ  the  men  we  continue  our  prepa 
ration  of  tents,  sledges,  and  gear  for  travelling 
Two  days  ago  the  ice  became  more  slack  than 
usual,  and  a  long  lane  opened ;  its  western  te~  - 
mination  could  not  be  seen  from  aloft.  Every 
effort  was  made  to  get  into  this  water,  and  by  the 
aid  of  steam  and  blasting-powder  we  advanced 
10Q  yards  out  of  the  intervening  170  yards  of 
ice,  when  the  floes  began  to  close  together,  a  S.E. 
wind  having  sprung  up.  Had  we  succeeded  in 
reaching  the  water,  I  think  we  should  have  extri 
cated  ourselves  completely,  and  perhaps  ere  this 
have  reached  Barrow  Strait,  but  S.E.  and  S.W. 
gales  succeeded,  and  it  now  blows  a  S.S.E.  gale, 
with  sleet. 

IQth. — Young  went  to  the  large  icebergs  to 
day;  the  nearest  of  them  is  250  feet  high,  and 
in  83  fathoms  water;  it  is  therefore  probably 
aground,  except  at  spring  tide ;  the  floe-ice  waa 


44  CANINE  APPETITE.  CHAP.  ILL 

drifting  past  it  to  the  westward,  and  was  crushing 
up  against  its  side  to  a  height  of  50  feet. 

13//J. — Thermometer  has  fallen  to  17°  at  noon. 
"We  have  drifted  18  miles  to  the  W.  in  the  last 
week ;  therefore  our  neighbors,  the  icebergs,  are 
not  always  aground,  but  even  when  afloat  drift 
more  slowly  than  the  light  ice.  There  is  a  water- 
sky  to  the  W.  and  N.W. ;  it  is  nearest  to  us  in 
the  direction  pf  Cape  York ;  could  ive  only  advance 
12  or  15  miles  in  that  direction,  I  am  convinced  ive 
should  be  free  to  steer  for  Barrow  Strait.  Forty- 
ihree  sea.ls  have  been  secured  for  the  dogs ;  one 
dog  is  missing,  the  remaining  twenty-nine  de 
voured  their  two  days'  allowance  of  seal's  flesh 
(60  or  65  Ibs.)  in  forty-two  seconds!  it  contained 
no  bone,  and  had  been  cut  up  into  small  pieces, 
and  spread  out  upon  the  snow,  before  they  w^ere 
permitted  to  rush  to  dinner ;  in  this  way  the  weak 
enjoy  a  fair  chance,  and  there  is  no  time  for  fight 
ing.  We  do  not  allow  them  on  board.  . 

16//k — At  length  we  have  drifted  past  the 
large  icebergs,  obtaining  soundings  in  69  fath 
oms  within  a  mile  of  them ;  they  must  now 
be  aground,  and  have  frequently  been  so  during 
the  last  three  weeks;  and  being  directly  upon 
our  line  of  drift,  are  probably  the  immediate 
cause  of  our  still  remaining  in  Melville  Bay. 
The  ice  is  slack  everywhere,  but  the  tempera 
ture  having  fallen  to  3°,  new  ice  rapidly  forms,  so 


SEPT.  1857.  PREPARING  FOR  WINTER.  45 

that  the  change  comes  too  late.  The  western 
limit  of  the  day  —  Cape  York  —  is  very  distinct, 
and  not  more  than  25  miles  from  us. 

ISM. — Lanes  of  water  in  all  directions ;  but 
the  nearest  is  half  a  mile  from  us.  They  come 
too  late,  as  do  also  the  N.W.  winds  which  have 
now  succeeded  the  fatal  south-easters.  The  tem 
perature  fell  to  2°  below  zero  last  night.  We 
are  now  at  length  in  the  "  North  Water ;"  the 
old  ice  has  spread  out  in  all  directions,  so  that  it 
is  only  the  young  ice  —  formed  within  the  lust 
fortnight  —  which  detains  us  prisoners  here. 

The  icebergs,  the  chief  cause  of  our  unfortu 
nate  detention,  and  which  for  more  than  three 
weeks  were  in  advance  of  us  to  the  westward,  are 
now,  in  the  short  space  of  two  days,  nearly  out 
of  sight  to  the  eastward. 

The  preparations  for  wintering  and  sledge- 
travelling  go  on  with  unabated  alacrity;  the 
latter  will  be  useful  should  it  become  necessary 
to  abandon  the  ship. 

Notwithstanding  such  a  withering  blight  to  my 
dearest  hopes,  yet  I  cannot  overlook  the  -many 
sources  of  gratification  which  do  exist ;  we  have 
not  only  the  necessaries,  but  also  a  fair  portion 
of  the  luxuries,  of  ordinary  sea-life ;  our  provi 
sions  and  clothing  are  abundant  and  well  suited 
to  the  climate.  Our  whole  equipment,  thougb 
upon  so  small  a  scale,  is  perfect  in  its  way.  We 


46  PROSPECT  FOR  WINTER.  CHAP.  Ill 

all  enjoy  perfect  health,  and  the  men  are  most 
cheerful,  willing,  and  quiet. 

Our  "  native  auxiliaries,"  consisting  of  Christian 
and  his  twenty-nine  dogs,  are  capable  of  perform 
ing  immense  service;  whilst  Mr.  Petersen,  from 
his  great  Arctic  experience,  is  of  much  use  to  me, 
besides  being  all  that  I  could  wish  as  an  inter 
preter.  Humanly  speaking,  we  are  not  unreason 
able  in  confidently  looking  forward  to  a  successful 
issue  of  this  season's  operations,  and  I  greatly  fear 
that  poor  Lady  Franklin's  disappointment  will 
consequently  be  the  more  severely  felt. 

We  are  doomed  to  pass  a  long  winter  of  abso* 
lute  inutility,  if  not  of  idleness,  in  comparative 
peril  and  privation;  nevertheless  the  men  seem 
very  happy  —  thoughtless,  of  course,  as  true  sail 
ors  always  are. 

We  have  drifted  off  the  bank  into  much  deeper 
water,  and  suppose  this  is  the  reason  that  seals 
have  become  more  scarce. 

22nd. — Constant  N.W.  winds  continue  to  drift 
us  slowly  southward.  Strong  indications  of  water 
in  the  N.W.,  W.,  and  S.E. ;  its  vicinity  may  ac 
count  for  a  rise  in  the  temperature,  without 
apparent  cause,  to  27°  at  noon  to-day. 

The  newly  formed  ice  affords  us  delightful 
walking ;  the  old  ice  on  the  contrary  is  covered 
with  a  foot  of  soft  snow.  We  have  no  shooting ; 
scarcely  a  living  creature  has  been  seen  for  » 
week. 


SEPT.  1857.  BEARS  —  AMUSEMENTS.  47 


—  Yesterday  I  thought  I  saw  two  of  our 
men  walking  at  a  distance,  and  beyond  some 
unsafe  ice,  but  on  enquiry  found  that  all  were  on 
board  :  Petersen  and  I  set  off  to  reconnoitre  the 
strangers  ;  they  proved  to  be  bears,  but  much  too 
wary  to  let  us  come  within  shot.  It  was  dark 
when  we  returned  on  board  after  a  brisk  walk 
over  the  new  ice.  The  calm  air  felt  agreeably 
mild.  We  were  without  mittens;  and  but  that 
the  breath  froze  upon  moustachios  and  beard,  one 
could  have  readily  imagined  the  night  was  com 
fortably  warm.  The  thermometer  stood  at  -j-  5°. 

To-day  when  walking  in  a  fresh  breeze  the 
wind  felt  very  cold,  and  kept  one  on  the  look-out 
for  frost-bites,  although  the  thermometer  was  up 
to  10°.  Games  upon  the  ice  and  skating  are  our 
afternoon  amusements,  but  we  also  have  some 
few  lovers  of  music,  who  embrace  the  opportunity 
for  vigorous  execution,  without  fear  of  being  re 
minded  that  others  may  have  ears  more  sensi 
tive  and  discriminating  than  their  own. 

2§th.  —  The  mountain  to  the  North  of  Melville 
Bay,  known  as  the  '  Snowy  Peak/  was  visible  yes 
terday,  although  90  miles  distant  ;  I  have  calcu 
lated  its  height  to  be  6000  feet.  A  raven  was 
shot  to-day. 

27th.  —  Our  salt  meat  is  usually  soaked  for  some 
days  before  being  used  ;  for  this  purpose  it  is  put 
into  a  net,  and  lowered  through  a  hole  in  the  ice  ; 
this  morning  the  net  had  been  torn,  and  only  4 


48     .  DINNER  STOLEN  BY  SHARKS.  CHAP.  Ill 

fragment  of  it  remained.  We  suppose  our  twenty 
two  pounds  of  salt  meat  had  been  devoured  by 
a  shark ;  it  would  be  curious  to  know  how  such 
fare  agrees  with  him,  as  a  full  meal  of  salted  pro 
vision  will  kill  an  Esquimaux  dog,  which  thrives 
on  almost  anything.  I  used  to  remonstrate  upon 
the  skins  of  sea-birds  being  given  to  our  dogs,  but 
was  told  the  feathers  were  good  for  them !  Here 
all  sea-birds  are  skinned  before  being  cooked, 
otherwise  our  ducks,  divers,  and  looms  would  be 
uneatably  fishy.  A  well-baited  shark-hook  has 
been  substituted  for  the  net  of  salt  meat ;  I  much 
wish  to  capture  one  of  the  monsters,  as  wonder 
ful  stories  are  told  us  of  their  doings  in  Green 
land  :  whether  they  are  the  white  shark  or  the 
basking  shark  of  natural  history  I  cannot  find 
out.  It  is  only  of  late  years  that  the  shark 
fishery  has  been  carried  on  to  any  extent  in 
Greenland;  they  are  captured  for  the  sake  of 
their  livers,  which  yield  a  considerable  quantity  of 
oil.  It  has  very  recently  been  ascertained  that  a 
valuable  substance  resembling  spermaceti  may  be 
expressed  from  the  carcase,  and  for  this  purpose 
powerful  screw  presses  are  now  employed.  In 
early  winter  the  sharks  are  caught  with  hook  and 
line  through  holes  in  the  ice. 

The  Esquimaux  assert  that  they  are  insensible 
to  pain ;  and  Petersen  assures  me  he  has  plunged 
a  long  knife  several  times  into  the  head  of  one 
whilst  it  continued  to  feed  upon  a  white  whale 


SEPT.  1857.  THE  ARCTIC  SHARK.  4S 

entangled  in  his  net ! !  It  is  not  sufficient  to 
drive  them  away  with  sundry  thrusts  of  spears 
or  knives,  but  they  must  be  towed  away  to  some 
distance  from  the  nets,  otherwise  they  will  return 
to  feed.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the  brain 
of  a  shark  is  extremely  small  in  proportion  to  the 
size  of  its  huge  head.  I  have  seen  bullets  fired 
through  them  with  very  little  apparent  effect; 
but  if  these  creatures  can  feel,  the  devices  prac 
tised  upon  them  by  the  Esquimaux  must  be  cruel 
indeed. 

It  is  only  in  certain  localities  that  sharks  are 
found,  and  in  these  places  they  are  often  at 
tracted  to  the  nets  by  the  animals  entangled  in 
them.  The  dogs  are  not  suffered  to  eat  either 
the  skin  or  the  head,  the  former  in  consequence 
of  its  extreme  roughness,  and  the  latter  because 
it  causes  giddiness  and  makes  them  sick. 

The  nets  alluded  to  are  set  for  the  white  whale 
or  the  seal ;  if  for  the  former,  they  are  attached 
to  the  shore  and  extended  off  at  right  angles  so  as 
to  intercept  them  in  their  autumnal  southern  mi 
gration,  when  they  swim  close  along  the  rocks  to 
avoid  their  direst  foe,  the  grampus,  or  killer,  of 
sailors,  the  Delphinus  orca  of  naturalists.  When 
the  white  whale  is  stopped  by  the  net  it  often 
appears  at  first  to  be  unconscious  of  the  fact,  and 
continues  to  swim  against  it,  affording  time  for 
the  approach  of  the  boat  and  deadly  harpoon 
from  behind.  If  entangled  in  the  net  a  very 
5  D 


50  KILLERS.  CHAP.  Ill 

short  time  suffices  to  drown  them,  as,  like  all  the 
whale  tribe,  they  are  obliged  to  come  to  the  sur 
face  to  breathe. 

The  killer  is  also  a  cetacean  of  considerable 
size,  15  to  20  feet  in  length,  but  of  very  different 
habits;  it  is  very  swift,  is  armed  with  power 
ful  teeth,  and  is  gregarious.  When  in  sufficient 
numbers  they  even  attack  the  whale,  impeding 
his  progress  by  fastening  on  his  fins  and  tail.  In 
summer  they  appear  in  the  Greenland  seas,  and 
the  seals  instantly  seek  refuge  from  them  in  the 
various  creeks  and  inner  harbors ;  and  the  Esqui 
maux  hunter  in  his  frail  kayak,  when  he  sees  the 
huge  pointed  dorsal  fin  swiftly  cleaving  the  sur 
face  of  the  sea,  is  scarcely  less  anxious  to  shun 
such  dangerous  company.  With  such  stories  as 
these  Petersen  beguiles  the  time  ;  I  never  tire  of 
listening  to  them,  and  now  amuse  myself  in  jot 
ting  scraps  of  them  down. 


OCT.  1857.  FIXED  IN  THE  ICE.  51 


CHAPTER    IV. 

Snow  crystals  —  Dog  will  not  eat  raven  — An  Arctic  school —  The  dogs 
invade  us — Bear-hunting  by  night — Ice-artillery  —  Arctic  palates  — 
Sudden  rise  of  temperature  —  Harvey's  idea  of  a  sortie. 

M  Oct.  —  SEPTEMBER  has  passed  away  and  left  us 
as  a  legacy  to  the  pack ;  what  a  month  have  we 
had  of  anxious  hopes  and  fears !  ' 

Up  to  the  17th  S.E.  winds  prevailed,  forcing  the 
ice  into  a  compact  body,  and  urging  it  north 
westward  ;  subsequently  N.W.  winds  set  in,  drift 
ing  it  southward,  and  separating  the  floe-pieces; 
but  the  change  of  wind  being  accompanied  by  a 
considerable  fall  of  temperature,  they  were  either 
quickly  cemented  together  again,  or  young  ice 
formed  over  the  newly  opened  lanes  of  water, 
almost  as  rapidly  as  the  surface  of  the  sea  became 
exposed.  During  the  month  the  thermometer 
ranged  between -(-36°  and  -2°.  Two  more  bears 
and  a  raven  have  been  seen.  A  wearied  ptarmi 
gan  alighted  near  the  ship,  but  before  it  could 
take  wing  again  the  dogs  caught  it,  and  scarcely 
a  feather  remained  by  the  time  I  could  rush  on 
deck. 

Our  beautiful  little  organ  was  taken  out  of  its 
case  to-day,  and  put  up  on  the  lower  deck  ;  the 


52  SNOW  CRYSTALS.  CHAP.  IV. 

men  enjoy  its  pleasing  tones,  whilst  Christian  un 
ceasingly  turns  the  handle  in  a  state  of  intense 
delight ;  he  regards  it  with  such  awe  and  admira 
tion,  and  is  so  entranced,  that  one  cannot  help 
envying  him ;  of  course  he  never  saw  one  before. 
The  instrument  was  presented  by  the  Prince  Con 
sort  to  the  searching  vessel  bearing  his  name 
which  was  sent  out  by  Lady  Franklin  in  1851 ; 
it  is  now  about  to  pass  its  third  winter  in  the 
frozen  regions. 

Two  dogs  ran  off  yesterday,  in  the  vain  hope, 
I  suppose,  of  bettering  their  condition, — we  only 
feed  them  three  times  a  week  at  present ;  they 
returned  this  morning. 

Seals  are  daily  seen  upon  the  new  ice,  but  in 
this  doubtful  sort  of  light  they  are  extremely 
timid,  therefore  our  sportsmen  cannot  get  within 
shot.  The  bears  scent  or  hear  our  dogs,  and  so 
keep  aloof;  even  the  shark  has  deserted  us,  the 
bait  remains  intact.  The  snow  crystals  of  last 
night  are  extremely  beautiful ;  the  largest  kind  is 
an  inch  in  length ;  its  form  exactly  resembles  the 
end  of  a  pointed  feather.  Stellar  crystals  two- 
tenths  of  an  inch  in  diameter  have  also  fallen ; 
these  have  six  points,  and  are  the  most  exquisite 
things  when  seen  under  a  microscope.  I  remem 
ber  noticing  them  at  Melville  Island  in  March, 
1853,  when  the  temperature  rose  to-|-80;  as  these 
were  formed  last  night  between  the  temperatures 
of -f-6°  and -f-12°,  it  would  appear  that  the  form 


OCT.  1857.  MONOTONOUS  LIFE.  53 

is  due  to  a  certain  fixed  temperature.  In  the  sun, 
or  even  in  moonlight,  all  these  crystals  glisten 
most  brilliantly ;  and  as  our  masts  and  rigging  are 
abundantly  covered  with  them,  the  '  Fox '  never 
was  so  gorgeously  arrayed  as  she  now  appears. 

\%th.  —  One  day  is  very  like  another;  we  have 
to  battle  stoutly  with  monotony ;  and  but  that 
each  twenty-four  hours  brings  with  it  necessary 
though  trivial  duties,  it  would  be  difficult  to  re 
member  the  date.  We  take  our  guns  and  walk 
long  distances,  but  see  nothing.  Two  of  the  dogs 
go  hunting  on  their  own  account,  sometimes  re 
maining  absent  all  night.  What  they  find  or  do 
is  a  mystery.  The  weather  is  generally  calm  and 
cold, — very  favorable  for  freezing  purposes  at  all 
events,  —  for  the  ice  of  only  three  weeks'  growth 
is  two  feet  thick. 

I  hardly  expect  any  considerable  disruption  of 
the  ice  before  the  general  break-up  in  the  spring, 
yet  we  do  not  trust  any  of  our  provisions  upon 
it,  nor  is  it  sufficiently  still  to  set  up  a  magnetic 
observatory,  for  which  purpose  the  instruments 
have  been  supplied  to  us. 

Petersen  still  hopes  we  may  escape  and  get 
into  Upernivik,  as  the  sea  is  not  permanently 
frozen  over  there  before  December.  I  am  sur 
prised  to  hear  that  eagles  have  been  seen  so 
far  north  as  Upernivik,  although  it  is  but  twice 
in  twenty-four  years  that  specimens  have  been 
noticed  there.  In  Kichardson's  '  Fauna  Boreali 


54  "  HARNESS  JACK."  CHAP.  IV. 

I 

Americana'  the  extreme  northern  limit  of  these 
birds  is  given  as  66° ;  but  Upernivik  is  in  722°. 

A  few  bear  and  fox  tracks  have  been  seen,  but 
no  living  creatures  for  several  clays,  except  a  flock 
of  ducks  hastening  southward,  and  a  solitary  ra 
ven. 

It  is  said  that  Esquimaux  dogs  will  eat  every 
thing  except  fox  and  raven.  There  are  excep 
tions,  however;  one  of  ours,  old  "Harness  Jack," 
devoured  a  raven  with  much  gusto  some  days 
ago.  All  the  other  dogs  allowed  their  harness  to 
be  taken  off  when  they  were  brought  on  board  ; 
but  old  Jack  will  not  permit  himself  to  be  un 
robed  ;  when  attempted  he  very  plainly  threatens 
to  use  his  teeth.  This  canine  oddity  suddenly 
became  immensely  popular,  by  constituting  him 
self  protecting  head  of  the  establishment  wrhen 
one  of  his  tribe  littered ;  he  took  up  a  most  un 
comfortable  position  on  top  of  the  family  cask 
(our  impromptu  kennel),  and  prevented  the  ap 
proach  of  all  the  other  dogs ;  but  for  his  timely 
interference  on  behalf  of  the  poor  little  puppies, 
I  verily  believe  they  would  all  have  been  stolen 
and  devoured !  Dogs  may  do  even  wrorse  than 
eat  raven. 

I  have  attempted  some  experiments  for  the 
purpose  of  determining  the  mean  hourly  change 
of  oscillation  of  a  pendulum  due  to  the  earth's 
diurnal  motion;  but  as  mine  was  only  11  \  feet 
in  length,  I  failed  of  any  approach  to  accuracy. 


Ocr.  1857.  AN  ARCTIC  SCHOOL.  55 

The  mean  of  several  observations  gave  17°  47', 
whereas  the  change  due  to  our  latitude  is  about 
14°  30'.  A  single  experiment  gave  14°  10',  and 
this  was  the  longest  in  point  of  time  of  any  of 
them,  the  pendulum  having  swung  for  thirty-six 
minutes. 

IMh.  —  Furious  N.W.  and  S'.E.  gales  have  alter 
nated  of  late ;  the  ship  is  housed  over,  to  keep 
out  the  driving  snow ;  so  high  is  the  snow  carried 
in  the  air  that  a  little  box  perforated  with  small 
holes  and  triced  up  50  feet  high  is  soon  filled  up ; 
this  box  is  supplied  morning  and  evening  with  a 
piece  of  prepared  paper  to  detect  the  presence 
and  amount  of  ozone  in  the  atmosphere ;  it  is  a 
peculiar  pet  of  the  Doctor's. 

At  eight  o'clock  this  evening  I  noticed  the 
failing  of  a  very  brilliant  meteor ;  it  passed 
through  the  constellation  of  Cassiopoeia  in  a 
N.N.E.  direction  before  terminating  its  visible 
existence,  which  it  did  very  much  like  a  huge 
rocket ;  the  flash  was  so  brilliant  that  a  man 
whose  back  was  turned  to  it  mistook  the  illumi 
nation  for  lightning. 

26//J. — Oar  school  opened  this  evening,  under 
the  auspices  of  Dr.  Walker.  He  reports  eight  or 
nine  pupils,  and  is  much  gratified  by  their  zeal. 
At  present  their  studies  are  limited  to  the  three 
R's  —  reading,  'riting,  and  'rithmetic.  They  have 
asked  him  to  read  and  explain  something  instruc 
tive,  sc  he  intends  to  make  them  acquainted  with 


5G  ICE  DISTURBANCE.  CH~P.  IV 

the  trade-winds  and  atmosphere.  This  subject 
affords  an  opportunity  of  explaining  the  uses 
of  our  thermometer,  barometer,  ozonometer,  and 
electrometer,  which  they  see  us  take  much  in 
terest  in.  It  is  delightful  to  find  a  spirit  of 
inquiry  amongst  them.  Apart  from  scholastic 
occupation,  I  give  them  healthful  exercise  in 
spreading  a  thick  layer  of  snow  over  the  deck, 
and  encasing  the  ship  all  round  with  a  bank  of 
the  same  material. 

2Sth. — Midnight.  This  evening,  to  our  great 
astonishment,  there  occurred  a  disruption  and 
movement  of  the  ice  within  200  yards  of  the 
ship.  The  night  was  calm;  the  reflection  of  a 
bright  moon,  aided  by  the  more  than  ordinary 
brilliancy  of  the  stars  upon  the  snowy  expanse, 
made  it  appear  to  us  almost  daylight.  As  I  sit 
now  in  my  cabin  I  can  distinctly  hear  the  ice 
crushing ;  it  resembles  the  continued  roar  of  dis 
tant  surf,  and  there  are  many  other  occasional 
sounds;  some  of  them  remind  one  of  the  low 
moaning  of  the  wind,  others  are  loud  and  harsh, 
as  if  trains  of  heavy  wagons  with  ungreased 
axles  were  slowly  laboring  along.  Upon  a  less- 
favored  night  these  sounds  might  be  appalling; 
even  as  it  is,  they  are  sufficiently  ominous  to 
invite  reflection.  Cape  York  has  been  in  sight 
for  some  days  past. 

'IWi. — Another  heavenly  night,  and  still  greater 
ice  disturbance ;  some  of  the  crushed-up  pieces  are 


Nov.  1857.  THE  DOGS  INVADE  US.  57 

nearly  four  feet  thick.  The  currents,  icebergs, 
and  changes  of  temperature,  may  contribute  to 
this  ice  action ;  but  I  think  the  tides  are  the  chief 
cause,  and  for  these  reasons :  that  it  wants  but 
two  days  to  the  full  moon,  and  that  the  ice-move 
ments  are  almost  confined  to  the  night,  and 
change  their  direction  morning  and  evening. 
Now  we  know  that  the  night-tides  in  Greenland 
greatly  exceed  the  day-tides.  One  thing  is  evi 
dent  —  the  weather  continues  calm,  therefore  the 
winds  are  not  concerned  in  the  matter. 

2nd  Nov.  —  Having  observed  some  days  ago 
that  a  few  of  the  dogs  were  falling  away — from 
some  cause  or  other  not  having  put  on  their 
winter  clothing  before  the  recent  cold  weather 
set  in — they  were  all  allowed  on  board,  and 
given  a  good  extra  meal.  Since  then  we  can 
scarcely  keep  them  out.  One  calm  night  they 
made  a  charge,  and  boarded  the  ship  so  suddenly 
that  several  of  the  men  rushed  up  very  scantily 
clothed,  to  see  what  was  the  matter.  Vigorous 
measures  were  adopted  to  expel  the  intruders, 
and  there  was  desperate  chasing  round  the  deck 
with  broomsticks,  &c.  Many  of  them  retreated 
into  holes  and  corners,  and  two  hours  elapsed 
before  they  were  all  driven  out ;  but  though  the 
chase  was  hot,  it  was  cold  enough  work  for  the 
half-clad  men. 

Sailors  use  quaint  expressions.  The  nightly 
foraging  expeditions  are  called  "sorties;"  they 


58  BEAR-HUNTING  BY  NIGHT.  CHAP.  IV 

point  out  to  me  the  various  corners  between 
decks  where  the  "  ice  corrodes,"  i.c'.,  the  moisture 
condenses  and  forms  frost;  a  ramble  over  the 
ice  is  called  "  a  bit  of  a  peruse."  I  presume  this 
indignity  is  offered  to  the  word  perambulation. 

There  was  a  very  sudden  call  "to  arms"  to 
night.  Whether  sleeping,  prosing,  or  schooling, 
every  one  flew  out  upon  the  ice  on  the  instant, 
as  if  the  magazine  or  the  boiler  was  on  the  point 
of  explosion.  The  alarm  of  "A  bear  close-to, 
lighting  with  the  dogs,"  was  the  cause.  The 
luckless  beast  had  approached  within  25  yards 
of  the  ship  ere  the  quartermaster's  eye  detected 
his  indistinct  outline  against  the  snow ;  so  silently 
had  he  crept  up  that  he  was  within  10  yards  of 
some  of  the  dogs.  A  shout  started  them  up,  and 
they  at  once  flew  round  the  bear  and  embarrassed 
his  retreat.  In  crossing  some  very  thin  ice  he 
broke  through,  and  there  1  found  him  surrounded 
by  yelping  dogs.  Poor  fellow  !  Ilobson,  Young, 
and  Petersen  had  each  lodged  a  bullet  in  him ; 
but  these  only  seemed  to  increase  his  rage.  He 
succeeded  in  getting  out  of  the  water,  when,  fear 
ing  harm  to  the  numerous  by-standers  and  clogs, 
or  that  he  might  escape,  I  fired,  and  luckily  the 
bullet  passed  through  his  brain.  He  proved  to 
be  a  full-grown  male,  7  feet  3  inches  in  length. 
As  we  all  aided  in  the  capture,  it  was  decided 
that  the  skin  should  be  offered  to  Lady  Franklin. 

The  carcase  will  feed  our  dogs   for   nearly  a 


Nov   1857.  THE  SUN'S  LAST  VISIT.  59 

month;  they  were  rewarded  on  the  spot  with 
the  offal.  All  of  them,  however,  had  not  shown 
equal  pluck ;  some  ran  off  in  evident  fright,  but 
others  showed  no  symptom  of  fear,  plunging 
or  failing  into  the  water  with  Bruin.  Poor  old 
Sophy  was  amongst  the  latter,  and  received  a 
deep  cut  in  the  shoulder  from  one  of  his  claws. 
The  authorities  have  prescribed  double  allowance 
of  food  for  her,  and  say  she  will  soon  recover. 

For  the  few  moments  of  its  duration  the  chase 
and  death  was  exciting.  And  how  strange  and 
novel  the  scene !  A  misty  moon  affording  but 
scanty  light  —  dark  figures  gliding  singly  about, 
not  daring  to  approach  each  other,  for  the  ice 
trembled  under  their  feet — the  enraged  bear, 
the  wolfish  howling  dogs,  and  the  bright  flashes 
of  the  deadly  rifles. 

3rd. — I  remained  up  the  greater  part  of  last 
night  taking  observations,  for  the  evening  mists 
had  passed  away,  and  a  lovely  moon  reigned  over 
a  calm  enchanting  night;  through  a  powerful 
telescope  she  resembled  a  huge  frosted-silver 
melon,  the  large  crater-like  depression  answering 
to  that  part  from  which  the  footstalk  had  been 
detached.  Not  a  sound  to  break  the  stillness 
around,  excepting  when  some  hungry  dog  would 
return  to  the  battlefield  to  gnaw  into  the  blood 
stained  ice. 

On  the  1st  the  sun  paid  us  his  last  visit  for  the 
year,  and  now  we  take  all  our  meals  by  lamp 
light. 


60  GUY  FAWKES'  PAY.  CHAP.  IV. 

5th. — In  order  to  vary  our  monotonous  routine, 
we  determined  to  celebrate  the  day ;  extra  grog 
was  issued  to  the  crew,  and  also  for  the  first  time 
a  proportion  of  preserved  plum-pudding.  Lady 
Franklin  most  thoughtfully  and  kindly  sent  .it  on 
board  for  occasional  use.  It  is  excellent. 

This  evening  a  well-got-up  procession  sallied 
forth,  marched  round  the  ship  with  drum,  gong, 
and  discord,  and  then  proceeded  to  burn  the 
effigy  of  Guy  Fawkes.  Their  blackened  faces, 
extravagant  costumes,  flaring  torches,  and  savage 
yells  frightened  away  all  the  dogs;  nor  was  it 
until  after  the  fireworks  were  set  off  and  the 
traitor  consumed  that  they  crept  back  again.  It 
was  school-night,  but  the  men  were  up  for  fun,  so 
gave  the  Doctor  a  holiday. 

~L2tk. — Yesterday 'I  had  the  good  fortune  to 
shoot  two  seals;  they  were  very  fat  and  their 
stomachs  were  filled  with  shrimps.  To-day  Young 
and  Petersen  shot  three  more,  and  many  others 
have  been  seen.  This  is  cheering,  and  entices 
people  out  for  hours  daily.  There  is  just  enough 
movement  in  the  ice  to  keep  a  few  narrow  lanes 
and  small  pools  of  water  open ;  the  floes  or  fields 
of  ice  are  more  inclined  to  spread  out  from  each 
other  than  to  close.  We  have  latterly  been  drift 
ing  before  northerly  winds. 

Wk. — A  renewal  of  ice-crushing  within  a  few 
hundred  yards  of  us.  I  can  hear  it  in  my  bed. 
The  ordinary  sound  resembles  the  roar  of  dis- 


Nov.  1857.  ICE-ARTILLERY.  61 

tant  surf  breaking  heavily  and  continuously  ;  but 
when  heavy  masses  come  in  collision  with  much 
impetus,  it  fully  realizes  the  justness  of  Dr.  Kane's 
descriptive  epithet,  "ice  artillery."  Fortunately 
for  us,  our  poor  little  '  Fox '  is  well  within  the 
margin  of  a  stout  old  floe :  we  are  therefore  un 
disturbed  spectators  of  ice-conflicts,  which  would 
be  irresistible  to  anything  of  human  construc 
tion.  Immediately  about  the  ship  all  is  still,  and, 
as  far  as  appearances  go  she  is  precisely  as  she 
would  be  in  a  secure  harbor  —  housed  all  over, 
banked  up  with  snow  to  her  gunwales.  In  fact, 
her  winter  plumage  is  so  complete  that  the  masts 
alone  are  visible.  The  deck  and  the  now  useless 
sky-lights  are  covered  with  hard  snow.  Below 
hatches  we  are  warm  and  dry ;  all  are  in  excel 
lent  health  and  spirits,  looking  forward  to  an 
active  campaign  next  winter.  God  grant  it  may 
be  realized ! 

Yesterday  Young  shot  the  fiftieth  seal,  an 
event  duly  celebrated  by  our  drinking  the  bottle 
of  champagne  which  had  been  set  apart  in  more 
hopeful  times  to  be  drunk  on  reaching  the  North 
Water — that  unhappy  failure,  the  more  keenly 
felt  from  being  so  very  unexpected. 

Petersen  saw  and  fired  a  shot  into  a  narwhal, 
which  brought  the  blubber  out.  When  most 
Arctic  creatures  are  wounded  in  the  water,  blub 
ber  more  frequently  than  blood  appears,  particu 
larly  if  the  wound  is  superficial  —  it  spreads  over 
6 


62  ARCTIC  PALATES.  CHAJ».  IV 

the  surface  of  the  water  like  oil.  Bills  of  fare 
vary  much,  even  in  Greenland.  I  have  inquired 
of  Petersen,  and  he  tells  me  that  the  Greenland 
Esquimaux  (there  are  many  Greenland ers  of 
Danish  origin)  are  not  agreed  as  to  which  of 
their  animals  affords  the  most  delicious  food; 
some  of  them  prefer  reindeer  venison,  others 
think  more  favorably  of  young  dog,  the  flesh  of 
which,  he  asserts,  is  "just  like  the  beef  of  sheep." 
He  says  a  Danish  captain,  who  had  acquired  the 
taste,  provided  some  for  his  guests,  and  they 
praised  his  mutton!  after  dinner  he  sent  for  tk^ 
skin  of  the  animal,  which  was  no  other  than  a 
large  red  dog!  This  occurred  in  Greenland, 
where  his  Danish  guests  had  resided  for  many 
years,  far  removed  from  European  mutton.  Baked 
puppy  is  a  real  delicacy  all  over  Polynesia :  at 
the  Sandwich  Islands  I  was  once  invited  to  a 
feast,  and  had  to  feign  disappointment  as  well  as 
I  could  when  told  that  puppy  was  so  extremely 
scarce  it  could  not  be  procured  in  time,  and 
therefore  sucking-pig  wras  substituted ! 

19/& — A  heavy  southerly  gale  has  increased 
the  ice  movements ;  happily  we  are  undisturbed. 
As  Young  was  seated  under  the  lee  of  a  hum 
mock,  watching  for  seals  to  pop  up  to  breathe, 
the  strong  ice  under  him  suddenly  cracked  and 
separated !  He  escaped  with  a  ducking,  and  was 
just  able  to  reach  his  gun  from  the  bank  ere  it 
sank  through  the  mixture  of  snow  and  water. 


Nov.  1857.  A  LUCKY  DOG.  63 

Yesterday  we  were  all  out;  I  saw  only  one 
seal,  but  was  refreshed  by  the  sight  of  a  dozen 
narwhals.  It  is  a  positive  treat  to  see  a  living 
creature  of  any  kind.  The  only  birds  which 
remain  are  dovekies,  but  they  are  scarce,  and, 
being  white,  are  very  rarely  visible. 

The  dogs  are  fed  every  second  day,  when  2 
Ibs.  of  seal's  flesh  —  previously  thawed  when  pos 
sible —  is  given  to  each;  the  weaker  ones  get 
additional  food,  and  they  all  pick  up  whatever 
scraps  are  thrown  out ;  this  is  enough  to  sustain, 
but  not  to  satisfy  them,  so  they  are  continually 
on  the  look-out  for  anything  eatable.  Hobson 
made  one  very  happy  without  intending  it ;  he 
meant  only  to  give  him  a  kick,  but  his  slipper, 
being  down  at  heel,  flew  off,  and  away  went  the 
lucky  dog  in  triumph  with  the  prize,  which  of 
course  was  no  more  seen. 

Two  large  icebergs  drift  in  company  with  us ; 
our  relative  positions  have  remained  pretty  nearly 
the  same  for  the  last  month. 

23rd —  A  heavy  gale  commenced  at  N.E.  on 
the  21st,  and  continued  for  thirty-six  hours  una 
bated  in  force,  but  changed  in  direction  to  S.S.W. 
It  appears  to  have  been  a  revolving  storm,  moving 
to  the  N.W.  Yesterday,  as  the  wind  approached 
S.E.,  the  temperature  rose  to  -f-  32° ;  the  upper 
deck  sloppy;  the  lower  deck  temperature  during 
Divine  Service  was  75° ! !  As  the  wind  veered 
round  to  S.S.W.,  the  wind  moderated,  and  tempera- 


Ci  SUDDEN  RISE   OF   TEMPERATURE.     CHAP  IV. 

ture  fell :  this  evening  it  is  —  7°.  How  is  it  that 
the  S.E.  wind  has  brought  us  such  a  very  high 
temperature  ?  Even  if  it  traversed  an  unfrozen 
sea  it  could  not  have  derived  from  thence  a 
higher  temperature  than  29°.  Has  it  swept 
across  Greenland  —  that  vast  superficies  partly 
enveloped  in  glacier,  partly  in  snow?  No,  it 
must  have  been  borne  in  the  higher  regions  of 
the  atmosphere  from  the  far  south,  in  order  to 
mitigate  the  severity  of  this  northern  climate. 

Petersen  tells  me  the  same  warm  S.E.  wind 
suddenly  sweeps  over  Upernivik  in  midwinter, 
bringing  with  it  abundance  of  rain ;  and  that  it 
always  shifts  to  the  S.W.,  and  then  the  tempera 
ture  rapidly  falls :  this  is  precisely  the  change  we 
have  experienced  in  lat.  75°.  I  believe  a  some 
what  similar,  but  less  remarkable,  change  of 
temperature  was  noticed  in  Smith's  Sound,  lat. 
78?  N. 

25/7*. — Mild  "Madeira  weather,"  as  Hobson 
calls  it,  temperature  up  to  -{-7°.  By  my  desire 
Dr.  Walker  is  occupied  in  making  every  possible 
experiment  upon  the  freezing  of  salt  water ;  the 
first  crop  of  ice  is  salt,  the  second  less  so,  the 
third  produces  drinkable  water,  and  the  fourth 
is  fresh.  Frosty  efflorescence  appears  upon  ice 
formed  at  low  temperatures  in  calm  weather 
—  it  is  brine  expressed  by  the  act  of  freezing. 
We  need  not  wonder  that  dogs,  when  driven 
hard  over  this  ice,  which  soon  cuts  their  feet, 


Nov.  1857.  THE  DOGS'   SOTLTEE.  65 

suffer  intense  pain,  and  often  fall  down  in  fits; 
nor  that  snow,  falling  upon  young  (sea)  ice, 
wholly  or  partially  thaws,  even  when  the  tem 
perature  is  but  little  above  zero ;  when  near  the 
freezing-point  the  young  ice  thus  coated  over 
becomes  sludgy  and  unsafe. 

29//a.  —  Keen,  biting,  N.W.  winds.  No  cracks 
in  the  ice,  therefore  no  seals.  Grey  dawn  a.t  ten 
o'clock,  and  dark  at  two.  The  moon  is  every 
where  the  sailor's  friend,  she  is  a  source  of  com 
fort  to  us  here.  Nothing  to  excite  conversation, 
except  an  occasional  inroad  of  the  dogs  in  search 
of  food ;  this  generally  occurs  at  night.  When 
ever  the  deck-light,  'which  burns  under  the 
housing  happens  to  go  out,  they  scale  the  steep 
snow  banking  and  rush  round  the  deck  like 
wolves.  "  Why,  bless  you,  Sir,  the  wery  moment 
that  there  light  goes  out,  and  the  quartermaster 
turns  his  back,  they  makes  a  regular  sorter,  and 
in  they  all  comes."  "  But  where  do  they  come  in, 
Harvey  ?"  "  Where,  Sir  ?  why  every wheres ;  they 
makes  no  more  to  do,  but  in  they  comes,  clean 
over  all."  Not  long  ago  old  Harvey  was  chief 
quartermaster  in  a  line-of-battle  ship,  and  a  regu 
lar  magnet  to  all  the  younger  midshipmen.  He 
would  spin  them  yarns  by  the  hour  during  the 
night-watches  about  the  wronders  of  the  sea,  and 
of  the  Arctic  regions  in  particular — its  bears,  its 
icebergs,  and  still  more  terrific  "  auroras,  roaring 
6*  E 


66  PROXIMITY   OF  OPEN  SEA.  UHAP.  IV. 

and  flashing  about  the  ship  enough  to  frighten  a 
fellow  " ! 

30//4. —  Severe  cold  has  arrived  with  the  full 
moon;  eight  days  ago  the  thermometer  stood  at 
the  freezing-point,  it  is  now  64°  below  it !  So 
dark  is  it  now  that  I  was  able  to  observe  an 
eclipse  of  Jupiter's  first  satellite  before  three 
o'clock  to-day.  For  the  last  two  months  we  have 
drifted  freely  backwards  and  forwards  before 
N.W.  and  S.E.  winds ;  each  time  we  have  gained 
a  more  off-shore  position,  being  gradually  sepa 
rated  further  and  further  from  the  land  by  fresh 
growths  of  ice,  which  invariably  follow  up  every 
ice-movement.  In  this  manner  we  have  been 
thrust  out  to  the  S.W.  80  miles  from  the  nearest 
land,  and  into  that  free  space  which  in  autumn 
was  open  water,  and  which  we  then  vainly  strug 
gled  to  reach. 

That  the  ice  has  been  most  free  to  move  in 
this  direction  is  additional  evidence  of  the  recent 
proximity  of  an  open  sea,  and  shows  that  in  all 
probability — I  had  almost  said  certainty  —  we 
should  have  sailed,  or  at  least  drifted  into  it,  had 
it  not  been  for  those  enemies  to  all  progress, 
the  grounded  bergs. 


DEC.  1857  BURIAL  IN  THE  PACK.  67 


CHAPTER    V. 

Burial  in  the  pack  —  Musk  oxen  in  lat.  80°  north —  Thrift  of  the  Arctie 
fox  —  The  aurora  affects  the  electrometer — An  Arctic  Christmas  — 
Sufferings  of  Dr.  Kane's  deserters  —  Ice  acted  on  by  wind  only  —  How 
the  sun  ought  to  be  welcomed  —  Constant  action  of  the  ice  —  Return 
of  the  seals  —  Revolving  storm. 

tih  Dec.  —  I  HAVE  just  returned  on  board  from 
the  performance  of  the  most  solemn  duty  a  com 
mander  can  be  called  upon  to  fulfil.  A  funeral 
at  sea  is  always  peculiarly  impressive  ;  but  this 
evening  at  seven  o'clock,  as  we  gathered  around 
the  sad  remains  of  poor  Scott,  reposing  under  an 
Union  Jack,  and  read  the  Burial  Service  by  the 
light  of  lanterns,  the  effect  could  not  fail  to 
awaken  very  serious  emotions. 

The  greater  part  of  the  Church  Service  was 
read  on  board,  under  shelter  of  the  housing ;  the 
body  was  then  placed  upon  a  sledge,  and  drawn 
by  the  messmates  of  the  deceased  to  a  short  dis 
tance  from  the  ship,  where  a  hole  through  the 
ice  had  been  cut :  it  was  then  "  committed  to  the 
deep,"  and  the  Service  completed.  What  a  scene 
it  was!  I  shall  never  forget  it.  The  lonely  ''Fox,' 
almost  buried  in  snow,  completely  isolated  from 
the  habitable  world,  her  colors  half-mast 


68  BURIAL  IN  THE  PACK.  CHAP.  V. 

and  bell  mournfully  tolling ;  our  little  procession 
slowly  marching  over  the  rough  surface  of  the 
frozen  sea,  guided  by  lanterns  and  direction-posts, 
amid  the  dark  and  dreary  depth  of  Arctic  win 
ter;  the  deathlike  stillness,  the  intense  cold,  and 
threatening  aspect  of  a  murky,  overcast  sky ;  and 
all  this  heightened  by  one  of  those  strange  lunar 
phenomena  which  are  but  seldom  seen  even  here, 
a  complete  halo  encircling  the  moon,  through 
which  passed  a  horizontal  band  of  pale  light  that 
encompassed  the  heavens;  above  the  moon  ap 
peared  the  segments  of  two  other  halos,  and  there 
were  also  mock  moons  or  paraselense  to  the  num 
ber  of  six.  The  misty  atmosphere  lent  a  very 
ghastly  hue  to  this  singular  display,  which  lasted 
for  rather  more  than  an  hour. 

Poor  Scott  fell  down  a  hatchway  two  days  only 
before  his  death,  which  was  occasioned  by  the  in 
ternal  injuries  then  received ;  he  was  a  steady, 
serious  man ;  a  widow  and  family  will  mourn  his 
loss.  He  was  our  engine-driver ;  we  cannot  re 
place  him,  therefore  the  whole  duty  of  working 
the  engines  will  devolve  upon  the  engineer, 
Mr.  Brand. 

llth.  —  Calm,  clear  weather,  pleasant  for  ex 
ercise,  but  steadily  cold  ;  thermometer  varies  be 
tween  -20°  and  -30°.  At  noon  the  blush  of 
dawn  tints  the  southern  horizon,  to  the  north  the 
sky  remains  inky  blue,  whilst  overhead  it  is  bright 
arid  clear,  the  stars  shining,  and  the  pole-star  near 


K)EC.  1857.  MUSK  OXEN  IN  LAT.80°N.  69 

the  zenith  very  distinct.  Although  there  is  a 
light  north  wind,  thin  mackerel-clouds  are  pass 
ing  from  south  to  north,  and  the  temperature 
has  risen  10°. 

I  have  been  questioning  Petersen  about  the 
bones  of  the  musk  oxen  found  in  Smith's  Sound ; 
he  says  the  decayed  skulls  of  about  twenty  were 
found,  all  of  them  to  the  north  of  the  79th  paral 
lel.  As  they  were  all  without  lower  jaws,  he  says 
they  were  killed  by  Esquimaux,  who  leave  upon 
the  spot  the  skulls  of  large  animals,  but  the 
weight  of  the  lower  jaw  being  so  trifling  it  is  al 
lowed  to  remain  attached  to  the  flesh  and  tongue. 
The  skull  of  a  musk  ox  with  its  massive  horns 
cannot  weigh  less  than  30  Ibs. 

Although  it  has  been  abundantly  proved  by 
the  existence  of  raised  beaches  and  fossils,  that 
the  shores  of  Smith's  Sound  have  been  elevated 
within  a  comparatively  recent  geological  period, 
yet  Petersen  tells  me  that  there  exist  numerous 
ruins  of  Esquimaux  buildings,  probably  one  or 
two  centuries  old,  all  of  which  are  situated  upon 
very  low  points,  only  just  sufficiently  raised  above 
the  reach  of  the  sea ;  such  sites,  in  fact,  as  would 
at  present  be  selected  by  the  natives.  These 
ruins  show  that  no  perceptible  change  has  taken 
place  in  the  relative  level  of  sea  and  land  since 
they  were  originally  constructed.  At  Petersen's 
Greenland  home,  Upernivik,  the  land  has  sunk, 


70  THRIFT  OF  THE  ARCTIC  FOX.  CHAP.  V. 

as  is  plainly  shown  by  similar  ruins  over  which 
the  tides  now  flow. 

Anything  which  illustrates  the  habits  of  ani 
mals  in  such  extremely  high  latitudes  I  think  is 
most  interesting;  their  instincts  must  be  quick 
ened  in  proportion  as  the  difficulty  of  subsisting 
increases.  Foxes,  white  and  blue,  are  very  nu 
merous  ;  all  the  birds  are  merely  summer  visitors, 
therefore  the  hare  is  the  only  creature  remaining 
upon  which  foxes  can  prey ;  but  the  hares  are 
comparatively  scarce  :  how  then  do  the  foxes  live 
for  eight  months  of  each  year  ?  Petersen  thinks 
they  store  up  provisions  daring  the  summer  in 
various  holes  and  crevices,  and  thus  manage  to 
eke  out  an  existence  during  the  dark  winter  sea 
son  ;  he  once  saw  a  fox  carry  off  eggs  in  his 
mouth  from  an  eider-duck's  nest,  one  at  a  time, 
until  the  whole  were  removed ;  and  in  winter  he 
has  observed  a  fox  scratch  a  hole  down  through 
very  deep  snow,  to  a  cache  of  eggs  beneath. 

The  men  are  exercised  at  building  snow  huts ; 
for  winter  or  early  spring  travelling,  this  knowl 
edge  is  almost  indispensable.  Upon  a  calm  day 
the  temperature  of  the  external  air  being  —33°, 
within  a  snow  hut  the  thermometer  stood  17° 
higher,  this  important  difference  being  due  to  the 
transmission  of  heat  through  the  ice  from  the  sea 
beneath. 

Evaporation  goes  on  through  ice  from  the 
water  underneath  it.  The  interior  of  each  snow 


DEC.  1857.  THE  AURORA.  71 

hut  is  coated  with  crystals,  and  the  ice  upon  which 
the  huts  are  built  is  four  feet  thick,  but  when  no 
longer  in  contact  with  water  I  cannot  discover 
any  evaporation  from  ice.  For  instance,  a  canvas 
screen  on  deck  which  became  wet  by  the  sudden 
thaw  last  month  still  remains  frozen  stiff. 

14//2. —  Of  late  there  has  been  much  damp 
upon  the  lower  deck.  This  has  now  been  reme 
died  by  enclosing  the  hatchway  within  a  com 
modious  snow-porch,  which  serves  as  a  condenser 
for  the  steam  and  vapor  from  the  inhabited  deck 
below. 

19/& — Light  N.W.  winds,  with  occasional  mists; 
the  temperature  is  comparatively  mild :  -12°  to 
-25°. 

It  is  now  the  time  of  spring-tides ;  they  cause 
numerous  cracks  in  the  ice ;  but  why  so,  at  such  a 
great  distance  from  the  land,  I  cannot  explain. 
The  three  nearest  points  of  land  are  respectively 
110,  140,  and  180  miles  distant  from  us. 

Much  aurora  during  the  last  two  days.  Yester 
day  morning  it  was  visible  until  eclipsed  by  the 
day-dawn  at  10  o'clock.  Although  we  could  no 
longer  see  it,  I  do  not  think  it  ceased  :  very  thin 
clouds  occupied  its  place,  through  which,  as 
through  the  aurora,  stars  appeared  scarcely 
dimmed  in  lustre.  I  do  not  imagine  that  aurora 
is  ever  visible  in  a  perfectly  clear  atmosphere.  I 
often  observe  it  just  silvering  or  rendering  lumi- 


72  AN  ARCTIC   CHRISTMAS.  CHAP.  Y, 

nous  the  upper  edge  of  low  fog  or  cloud  banks, 
and  with  a  few  vertical  rays  feebly  vibrating. 

Last  evening  Dr.  Walker  called  me  to  witness 
his  success  with  the  electrometer.  The  electric 
current  was  so  very  weak  that  the  gold-leaves 
diverged  at  regular  intervals  of  four  or  live  sec 
onds.  Some  hours  afterwards  it  was  strong 
enough  to  keep  them  diverged. 

21s/.  —  Midwinter  day.  Out  of  the  Arctic  re 
gions  it  is  better  known  as  the  shortest  day.  At 
noon  we  could  just  read  type  similar  to  the  lead 
ing  article  of  the  '  Times.'  Few  people  could 
read  more  than  two  or  three  lines  without  their 
eyes  aching. 

27^. —  Our  Christmas  was  a  very  cheerful, 
merry  one.  The  men  were  supplied  with  several 
additional  articles,  such  as  hams,  plum-puddings, 
preserved  gooseberries  and  apples,  nuts,  sweet 
meats,  and  Burton  ale.  After  Divine  Service 
they  decorated  the  lower  deck  with  flags,  and 
made  an  immense  display  of  food.  The  officers 
came  down  with  me  to  see  their  preparations. 
We  were  really  astonished !  The  mess-tables 
were  laid  out  like  the  counters  in  a  confectioner's 
shop,  with  apple  and  gooseberry  tarts,  plum  arid 
sponge-cakes  in  pyramids,  besides  various  other 
unknown  puffs,* cakes,  and  loaves  of  all  sizes  and 
shapes.  We  bake  all  our  own  bread,  and  ex 
cellent  it  is.  In  the  background  were  nicely- 


DEC.  1857.  AN  ARCTIC   CHRISTMAS.  73 

browned  hams,  meat-pies,  cheeses,  and  odier 
substantial  articles.  Rum  and  water  in  wine 
glasses,  and  plum-cake,  were  handed  to  us:  we 
wished  them  a  happy  Christmas,  and  compli 
mented  them  on  their  taste  and  spirit  in  getting 
up  such  a  display.  Our  silken  sledge-banners  had 
been  borrowed  for  the  occasion,  and  were  re 
garded  with  deference  and  peculiar  pride. 

In  the  evening  the  officers  were  enticed  down 
amongst  the  men  again,  and  at  a  late  hour  I  was 
requested,  as  a  great  favor,  to  come  down  and 
see  how  much  they  were  enjoying  themselves. 
I  found  them  in  the  highest  good  humor  with 
themselves  and  all  the  world.  They  were  per 
fectly  sober,  and  singing  songs,  each  in  his  turn. 
I  expressed  great  satisfaction  at  having  seen  them 
enjoying  themselves  so  much  and  so  rationally.  I 
could  therefore  the  better  describe  it  to  Lady 
Franklin,  who  was  so  deeply  interested  in  every 
thing  relating  to  them.  I  drank  their  healths, 
and  hoped  our  position  next  year  would  be  more 
suitable  for  our  purpose.  We  all  joined  in  drink 
ing  the  healths  of  Lady  Franklin  and  Miss  Cra- 
croft,  and  amid  the  acclamations  which  followed 
I  returned  to  my  cabin,  immensely  gratified  by 
such  an  exhibition  of  genuine  good  feeling,  such 
veneration  for  Lady  Franklin,  and  such  loyalty 
to  the  cause  of  the  expedition.  It  was  very 
pleasant  also  that  they  had  taken  the  most  cheer 
ing  view  of  our  future  prospects.  I  verily  believe 
7 


74  NEW   YEAR'S  DAY.  CHAP.  V. 

I  was  the  happiest  individual  on  board,  thai 
happy  evening. 

Our  Christmas-box  has  come  in  the  shape  of 
northerly  winds,  which  bid  fair  to  drift  us  south 
ward  towards  those  latitudes  wherein  we  hope 
for  liberation  next  spring  from  this  icy  bondage. 

28/7*. — We  have  been  in  expectation  of  a  gale 
all  day.  This  evening  there  is  still  a  doubtful 
sort  of  truce  amongst  the  elements.  Barometer 
down  to  28'83  ;  thermometer  up  to  -|-50?  although 
the  wind  has  been  strong  and  steady  from  the 
N.  for  twenty-four  hours,  low  scud  flying  from 
the  K,  snow  constantly  falling.  An  hour  ago  the 
wind  suddenly  changed  to  S.S.E. ;  the  snowing 
has  ceased;  thermometer  falls  and  barometer 
rises. 

2nd  Jan.  1858.  —  New-Year's  day  was  a  second 
edition  of  Christmas,  and  quite  as  pleasantly  spent. 
We  dwelt  much  upon  the  anticipations  of  the  fu 
ture,  being;  a  more  agreeable  theme  than  the  fail- 

O  O 

ure  of  the  past.  I  confess  to  a  hearty  welcome 
for  the  new  year  —  anxious,  of  course,  that  we 
may  escape  uninjured,  and  sufficiently  early  to 
pursue  the  object  of  our  voyage. 

Exactly  at  midnight  on  the  31st  December  the 
arrival  of  the  new  year  was  announced  to  me  by 
our  band  —  two  flutes  and  an  accordion  —  strik 
ing  up  at  my  door.  There  was  also  a  procession, 
or  perhaps  I  should  say  a  continuation  of  the 
band  ;  these  performers  were  grotesquely  attired, 


JAN.  IS58.      SUFFERINGS  OF  AN  ARCTIC  PARTY.  75 

and  armed  with  frying-pans,  gridirons,  kettles, 
pots,  and  pans,  with  which  to  join  in  and  add  to 
the  effect  of  the  other  music ! 

We  have  a  very  level  hard  walk  alongside  the 
ship ;  it  is  narrowed  to  two  or  three  yards  in 
width  by  a  snow-bank  four  feet  high.  In  the 
face  of  this  bank  some  twenty-five  holes  have 
been  excavated  for  the  dogs,  and  in  them  they 
spend  most  of  their  time.  It  looks  very  formida 
ble  in  the  moonlight,  being  a  good  imitation  of  a 
cascmated  battery. 

After  our  rubber  of  whist  on  New  Year's  night 
Pctersen  related  to  us  some  of  his  dreadful  suffer 
ings  when  with  the  party  which  had  left  Dr. 
Kane.  They  spent  the  months  of  October  and 
November  in  Booth  Sound,  lat.  77°;  all  that  time 
upon  the  verge  of  starvation,  unable  to  advance 
or  retreat.  For  these  two  months  they  had  no 
other  fuel  than  their  small  cedar  boat,  the  smoke 
of  which  was  not  endurable  in  their  wretched 
hut,  and  without  light,  for  the  sun  left  them  in 
October,  unless  we  except  one  inch  and  a  half  of 
taper  daily,  which  they  made  out  of  a  lump  of 
bees'-wax  that  accidently  found  its  way  into  their 
boat  before  leaving  the  ship.  In  December  they 
regained  their  vessel.  I  am  surprised  that  no  ac 
count  of  the  extreme  hardships  of  this  party  —  so 
far  excr eding  that  of  their  shipmates  on  board  — 
has  ever  appeared ;  and  I  regret  it,  as  I  believe 
they  owed  their  lives  to  the  experience  and 


76  ICE   ACTED   ON    BY   WIND   ONLY.         CHAP  V. 

fidelity  of  their  interpreter  Petersen.  At  iirst 
the  Esquimaux  assisted  them ;  latterly  they  were 
quite  unable  to  do  so,  and  became  anxious  to  get 
rid  of  their  visitors.  Observing  how  weakened 
they  had  become,  the  Esquimaux  endeavored  to 
separate  them  from  their  guns  and  from  each 
other,  and  even  used  threatening  language. 

During  December  we  drifted  67  miles,  directly 
down  Baffin's  Bay  towards  the  Atlantic,  and  are 
now  in  lat.  74°.  Although  it  is  quite  impossible 
to  discriminate  between  the  several  influences 
which  probably  govern  our  movements,  or  to  as 
certain  how  much  is  due  to  each  of  them  —  such 
as  the  relative  positions  of  ice,  land,  and  open 
water,  winds,  currents,  and  earth's  rotation  —  yet 
it  appears  in  the  present  instance  that  the  wind  is 
almost  the  sole  agent  in  hastening  this  vast  conti 
nent  of  ice  towards  the  latitudes  of  its  dissolution. 
We  move  before  the  wind  in  proportion  to  its 
strength :  we  remain  stationary  in  calm  weather. 
Neither  surface  nor  submarine  current  has  been 
detected  ;  the  large  icebergs  obey  the  same  influ 
ences  as  the  surface  ice.  We  have  noticed  a 
slight  set  to  the  westward  —  it  is  not  likely  to  be 
produced  by  current,  and  may  be  the  result  of 
the  earth's  motion  from  west  to  east. 

Wi.  —  Many  lanes  of  water.  A  seal  has  been 
seen,  the  only  one  for  six  weeks.  Of  the  old  ice 
which  so  closely  hemmed  us  in  up  to  the  middle 
of  September,  there  is  hardly  any  within  several 


JAN   1858.  RETURN   OF   THE   SUN.  77 

4 

miles  of  us  except  the  large  floe-piece  we  are 
frozen  to.  Every  crack  or  lane  which  opens  is 
quickly  covered  with  young  ice,  so  that  it  cannot 
close  again;  and  in  this  manner  the  old  ice  has 
been  spread  out.  I  rejoice  in  its  dispersion  ! 

To-day  I  put  a  tumblerful  of  our  strong  ale 
( Allsopp's)  on  deck  to  freeze :  this  was  soon  effect 
ed,  the  temperature  being  -35°.  After  bringing 
it  below,  and  when  its  temperature  had  risen 
to  17°,  it  was  almost  all  thawed  —  at  22°  it  was 
completely  so  :  it  looked  muddy,  but  settled  after 
standing  for  a  couple  of  hours,  when  I  drank  it 
off,  in  every  way  satisfied  with  my  experiment 
and  my  beer :  it  seemed  none  the  worse  for  its 
freezing,  but  rather  flat  from  its  long  exposure  in 
a  tumbler. 

YltL — Northerly  winds  blow  almost  constantly. 
We  have  drifted  60  miles  since  the  1st,  and  are 
only  115  miles  from  Upernivik,  —  once  more 
upon  confines  of  the  habitable  world  !  good  light 
for  three  hours  daily ;  all  this  is  cheering.  We 
continue  our  snow-hut  practice,  and  can  build  one 
in  three-quarters  of  an  hour. 

2Sth. —  The  upper  edge  of  the  sun  appeared 
above  the  horizon  to-day,  after  an  absence  of 
eighty-nine  days ;  it  was  a  gladdening  sight.  I 
sent  for  the  ship's  steward  and  asked  what  was 
the  custom  on  such  occasions  ?  "  To  hoist  the 
colors  and  serve  out  an  extra  half-gill,  sir,"  wag 
the  readv  reply  :  accordingly,  the  Harwich  lion 


78  THE    SICK   LIST.  CHAP.  V. 

**, 

soon  fluttered  in  a  breeze  cool  enough  to  stiffen 
the  limbs  of  ordinary  lions,  and  in  the  evening 
the  grog  was  issued. 

30//4.  —  Our  messmate  Pussy  is  unwell,  and 
wont  eat ;  in  vain  has  Hobson  tempted  h?r 
with  raw  seal's  flesh,  preserved  salmon,  preserved 
milk,  etc. ;  at  length  castor-oil  was  forcibly  ad 
ministered.  Puss  is  a  great  favorite.  Our  finest 
cog,  Sultan,  is  also  sick,  and  his  coat  is  in  bad 
order;  blubber  has  been  prescribed  for  him;— 
and  poor  old  Mary  has  fits,  not  uncommon  after 
the  long  winter.  Petersen  immediately  ordered 
her  to  be  bled  by  slitting  her  ear ;  but  Christian, 
in  his  fright  and  haste,  cropped  the  tip  of  it  off 
These  comprise  our  only  medical  cases.  A  dove- 
kie,  in  its  white  winter  plumage,  and  two  seals 
have  been  seen  lately. 

15/A  Feb. --The  returning  daylight  cheers  us 
up  wonderfully  —  not  that  we  were  suffering, 
either  mentally  or  bodily,  but  the  change  is  most 
agreeable ;  we  can  take  much  longer  walks  than 
were  possible  during  the  dark  period.  The  men 
have  been  supplied  with  muskets,  and  go  out 
sporting  as  ardently  as  schoolboys.  I  took  a  long 
walk  towards  one  of  our  iceberg  companions,  but 
could  not  quite  reach  it,  as  weak  ice  intervened, 
each  step  producing  an  undulation.  Finding  the 
point  of  my  knife  went  through  it  with  but 
very  slight  resistance,  I  gave  up  the  attempt  and 
turned  back.  The  ship's  masts  were  scarcely  visi- 


OK   ' 

ft        -  ERS' 

FEB.  1858.       CONSTANT   ACTION  QF  THE  ICE.  7 

^v -tf  T  T— 

ble  in  the  distance  ;  almost  the  whole  of  the  in 
tervening  ice  was  of  this  winter's' growth,  and  in 
many  places  much  crushed  up. 

Daylight  reveals  to  us  evidences  of  vast  ice 
movements  having  taken  place  during  the  dark 
months  when  we  fancied  all  was  still  and  quiet ; 
and  we  now  see  how  greatly  we  have  been  fa- 
v)red,  what  innumerable  chances  of  destruction 
we  have  unconsciously  escaped  !  A  few  days  ago 
the  ice  suddenly  cracked  within  ten  yards  of  the 
ship,  and  gave  her  such  a  smart  shock  that  every 
one  rushed  on  deck  with  astonishing  alacrity. 
One  of  these  sudden  disruptions  occurred  between 
me  and  the  ship  when  I  was  returning  from  the 
iceberg ;  the  sun  was  just  setting  as  I  found  my 
self  cut  off.  Had  I  been  on  the  other  side  1 
would  have  loitered  to  enjoy  a  refreshing  gaze 
upon  this  dark  streak  of  water ;  but  after  a  smart 
run  of  about  a  mile  along  its  edge,  and  finding  no 
place  to  cross,  visions  of  a  patrol  on  the  floe  for 
the  long  night  of  fifteen  hours  began  to  obtrude 
themselves !  At  length  I  reached  a  place  where 
the  jagged  edges  of  the  floes  met,  so  crossed  and 
got  safely  on  board.  Nothing  was  seen  during 
this  walk  of  nearly  25  miles  except  one  seal. 
Recent  gales  have  drifted  us  rapidly  southward ; 
cracks  and  lanes  are  very  numerous. 

On  the  1st  a  blue  (or  sooty)  fox  was  shot.  Al 
though  130  geographical  miles  from  the  nearest 
land  he  was  very  fat,  hence  we  argue  dovekies 


80  RETURN  OF  A  DESERTER.  CHAP.  V 

were  nracli  more  numerous  during  winter  than 
we  supposed.  We  have  often  noticed  the  tracks 
of  foxes  following  up  those  of  the  bears,  probably 
for  discarded  scraps  of  the  seals  upon  which  they 
prey.  Hobson's  favorite  dog  "  Chummie  "  has  re 
turned,  after  an  absence  of  six  days,  decidedly 
hungry,  but  he  can  hardly  have  been  without 
food  all  that  time ;  some  fox  may  have  lured  him 
off.  He  evinced  great  delight  in  getting  back, 
devoted  his  first  attentions  to  a  hearty  meal,  then 
rubbed  himself  up  against  his  own  particular  as 
sociates,  after  which  he  sought  out  and  attacked 
the  weakest  of  his  enemies,  and,  soothed  by  their 
bowlings,  coiled  himself  up  for  a  long  sleep. 

1st  March.  —  February  has  been  a  remarkably 
mild,  cloudy,  windy  month :  the  winter  tempera 
ture  may  be  said  to  have  passed  away  by  the 
I Oth,  the  average  temperature  for  the  first  ten 
days  being  -25°,  whilst  for  the  remainder  of  the 
month  it  was  -11°.  Had  one  fallen  asleep  for  a 
month  at  least,  he  could  not  reasonably  have  ex 
pected  to  find  a  greater  change  on  awaking.  Our 
drift  has  been  also  great, — 166  miles.  We  are 
south  of  the  70th  parallel,  and  may  soon  be  ex 
pelled  from  our  icy  home. 

On  the  24th  there  was  a  fearful  gale  of  wind. 
Had  not  our  housing  been  very  well  secured,  it 
must  have  been  blown  away.  We  are  preparing 
for  sea,  removing  the  snow  from  off  the  deck  and 
round  the  ship  ;  our  skylights  have  been  dug  out 


MAR.  1858.  RETURN  OF  THE  SEALS.  81 

(in  winter  they  are  always  covered  with  a  thick 
layer  of  snow),  and  the  flood  of  light  which  beams 
down  through  them  is  quite  charming.  How  in 
tolerably  sooty  and  smoke-dried  everything  looks ! 

On  the  27th  the  first  seal  of  this  year  was 
shot ;  it  came  in  good  time,  for  the  fifty-one 
seals  shot  in  autumn  were  finished  only  two 
days  before  :  our  English  supply  of  dogs'  food 
therefore  remains  almost  untouched.  Snow  was 
observed  to  melt  against  the  ship's  side  exposed 
to  the  sun,  the  thermometer  in  the  shade  stand 
ing  at  -22° !  A  very  fine  dog  has  died  front 
eating  a  quantity  of  salt  fish,  which  he  managed 
to  get  at  although  it  was  supposed  to  be  quite 
out  of  his  reach. 

One  of  the  two  large  icebergs  which  com 
menced  this  voyage  with  us  last  October,  in 
75^°  N.,  has  drifted  out  of  sight  to  the  S.E,  the 
other  one  is  far  off  in  the  N.W.  I  attribute 
these  increased  distances  solely  to  the  spreading 
abroad  of  the  intervening  ice. 

When  we  were  far  north,  and  probably  drifting 
more  slowly  than  the  ice  in  the  stream  of  Lan 
caster  Sound  to  the  westward  of  us,  the  ship's 
head  turned  very  gradually  from  right  to  left, 
from  N.N.W.  to  W. ;  when  about  the  parallel 
of  72°  N.,  we  supposed  ourselves  to  be  drifting 
faster  than  the  western  ice  ;  in  this,  as  in  the 
previous  case,  comparing  our  drift  with  that  of 
Lieutenant  De  Haven,  the  ship's  head  slowly 


82  REVOLVING  STORM.  CHAP.  V 

shifted  back  to  the  right  as  far  as  W.N.W.; 
latterly  it  has  not  changed  at  all :  we  are  in  a 
narrower  part  of  Davis'  Strait,  where  the  winds 
probably  blow  with  equal  force  from  shore  to 
shore  and  drift  the  whole  pack  at  a  uniform  rate. 

5/A. —  On  the  2nd  four  fat  seals  and  some  clove- 
kies  were  shot;  the  largest  seal  weighed  170 
Ibs.,  the  smallest  150  Ibs. ;  they  were  males 
of  the  species  Phoca  hespida,  or  Phoca  foetid  a, 
the  latter  epithet  being  by  far  the  most  appro 
priate  at  this  season  ;  the  disagreeable  odor  re 
sembles  garlic,  and  taints  the  whole  animal  so 
strongly  that  even  Esquimaux  are  nearly  over 
powered  by  it:  this  is  almost  the  only  descrip 
tion  of  seal  we  have  obtained,  but  the  females 
are  at  all  seasons  free  from  fetor.  Several  long 
lanes  of  water  extend  at  right  angles  to  the 
straits. 

The  Doctor  has  taken  a  photograph  of  tho 
ship  by  the  albumen  process  on  glass  ;  the  tem 
perature  at  the  time  was  below  zero.  Upon  the 
3rd  and  4th  a  well-remarked  revolving  storm 
passed  nearly  over  us  to  the  W.N.W. ;  its  ex 
treme  diameter  was  30  hours,  that  of  the  strength 
of  the  gale  18  hours ;  its  centre  probably  passed 
about  one-tenth  of  its  diameter  to  the  S.W.  The 
barometer  was  rather  high,  having  risen  just  be 
fore  the  wind  commenced  at  N.  E. ;  but  it  now 
fell  half  an  inch  in  ten  hours,  and  continued  to 
fall  until  the  wind  shifted  —  almost  suddenly  — 


IVUn.  1858.  DISCO  SIGHTED.  83 

through  S.E.  to  S.S.W. ;  immediately  the  barom 
eter  got  up  rapidly.  As  the  barometer  fell,  the 
temperature  rose  from  zero  to  -|-1S0,  and  fell 
again  after  the  change  of  wind.  This  violent 
storm  brought  with  it  a  smart  hail-shower. 

The  depression  of  the  ice  about  the  bows,  in 
consequence  of  a  vast  accumulation  of  snow-drift 
upon  it,  brought  the  ship  down  by  the  head  con 
siderably  ;  to-day  this  ice  suddenly  detached  it 
self,  and  the  fore  part  of  the  vessel  sprang  up ; 
she  still  remains  frozen  and  held  down  abaft. 
The  snow-banking  looks  very  woe-begone  after 
this  ice-quake ;  it  inclines  out  from  the  ship,  and 
in  many  places  has  been  prostrated  by  the  shock. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  the  7th  the  high  land 
of  Disco  was  seen ;  its  distance  was  upwards  of 
90  miles. 


84  A  BKAB  FIGHT.  CHAP.  VI. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

A  bear-fight  —  An  ice-nip  —  Strong  gales,  rapid  drift  —  The  '  Fox  ' 
breaks  out  of  the  pack  —  Hanging  on  to  floe-edge  —  the  Arctic  bear  — 
An  ice  tournament  —  The  'Fox'  in  peril — A  storm  in  the  pack  — 
Escape  from  the  pack. 

Wi  March.  —  A  BEAR  was  seen  this  morning  ;  but 
as  he  was  going  away  from  us,  the  dogs  were 
brought  out  in  the  hope  that  they  might  keep 
him  at  bay  until  the  sportsmen  came  up.  It  was 
very  pretty  to  see  them  take  up  the  scent,  the 
moment  they  caught  sight  of  him  they  set  off  at 
full  speed.  Bruin  had  seen  them  first,  and  in 
creased  his  pace  to  a  clumsy  gallop,  yet  the  dogs 
were  soon  around  him  ;  he  seemed  to  care  but 
little  about  them,  steadily  making  off  and  follow 
ing  the  trending  of  a  recently  frozen  crack  in 
search  of  clear  water,  evidently  aware  that  his 
persecutors  would  not  follow  him  there. 

After  five  hours  all  returned  on  board  again  ; 
out  of  the  ten  dogs  four  were  wounded  by  his 
claws,  —  skin  deep  only, — but  one  of  the  wounds 
was  seven  inches  in  length,  as  if  made  with  a 
sharp  knife  !  this  was  sewed  up,  the  others  were 
merely  trimmed,  and  nature,  I  am  informed,  will 
do  all  the  rest.  It  is  really  wonderful  what  cures 


MAR.  1858.  SEAL  STEAKS.  85 

nature  and  instinct  effect :  notwithstanding  the 
extreme  cold,  no  external  dressings  are  applied, 
because  the  animal  must  not  be  prevented  from 
licking  its  wound.  Petersen  says  this  bear  must 
be  very  thin,  else  he  could  not  run  so  fast.  I 
think  it  very  probable  that  he  has  been  hunted 
before,  and  that  fear  lent  him  wings.  A  black 
whale  has  been  seen. 

11//2.  —  Two  small  seals  free  from  taint  were 
shot  yesterday,  so  we  had  fried  liver  and  steaks 
for  breakfast  this  morning ;  both  were  good,  but 
the  steaks  were  preferred ;  they  were  very  dark 
and  very  tender,  had  been  cut  thin,  deprived  of 
all  fat,  and  washed  in  two  or  three  waters  to  get 
rid  of  the  blubber. 

16^. —  Several  long  lanes  of  water  have  again 
opened,  but  now  all  of  them  extend  parallel  to 
the  direction  of  the  straits  ;  one  lane  passed  with 
in  120  yards  of  the  ship ;  its  extremes  are  not 
visible  even  from  aloft ;  the  ice  upon  its  east  side 
has  a  more  rapid  southerly  motion  than  that 
upon  its  west  side. 

18^.  —  Last  night  the  ice  closed,  shutting  up 
our  lane,  but  its  opposite  sides  continued  for 
several  hours  to  move  past  each  other,  rubbing 
off  all  projections,  crushing,  and  forcing  out  of 
water  masses  four  feet  thick  :  although  120  yards 
distant,  this  pressure  shook  the  ship  and  cracked 
the  intervening  ice. 

1  went  out  with  a  lantern  to  see  the  nip, — 


86  AN  ICE-NIP.  CHAP.  VL 

it  certainly  was  awe-inspiring ;  no  one  in  his 
senses  could  avoid  reflecting  upon  the  inevitable 
fate  of  a  ship  if  exposed  to  such  fearful  pressure. 
It  is  now  spring  tides. 

19//4.  —  All  yesterday  the  lane  remained  open; 
in  the  evening  it  closed  with  but  slight  pressure ; 
yet  as  the  opposing  fields  of  ice  continued  to 
move  in  opposite  directions,  all  jagged  points 
were  brushed  off,  and  the  debris  thus  formed 
between  their  edges  presented  a  heaving  surface 
of  ice-masses,  —  an  ice  river.  On  the  separation 
of  the  floes,  mass  after  mass  forced  itself  up  to 
the  surface,  until  at  length  all  the  submerged 
ice  had  risen,  except  such  as  had  been  forced 
quite  under  their  edges.  One  seldom  meets 
with  a  cleanly  fractured  floe-edge,  they  are 
usually  fringed  with  crushed-up  ice  or  newly 
formed  sludge. 

23rd.  —  Seals  and  dovekies  are  now  common ; 
the  latter  have  already  made  considerable  ad 
vances  towards  their  summer  plumage. 

Yesterday  there  was  a  very  heavy  S.E.  gale ; 
it  blew  so  furiously,  and  the  snow-drift  was  so 
dense,  that  we  could  neither  hear  nor  sec  what 
was  going  on  twenty  yards  off;  at  night  the  ship, 
becoming  suddenly  detached  from  the  ice,  heeled 
over  to  the  storm ;  until  the  cause  was  ascer 
tained  we  thought  the  ice  had  broken  up  and 
pressed  against  the  ship.  It  was  not  so ;  but 
when  the  weather  moderated  we  found  that  there 


MAR.  1858.  STRONG  GALES.  87 

had  been  heavy  pressure  upon  the  edge  of  the 
fl  3es,  —  so  much,  indeed,  that  the  lane  of  water 
was  now  within  70  yards  of  the  '  Fox  ; '  and  that 
ice  4J  feet  thick  had  been  crushed  during  the 
storm  for  a  distance  of  about  50  yards. 

25th.  —  Strong  N.W.  winds  lately,  the  ship 
rocking  to  the  breeze,  and  rubbing  her  poor 
sides  against  the  ice,  producing  a  creaking  sound 
which  is  far  from  pleasant.  More  ice  squeezing, 
and  a  further  inroad  upon  our  barrier ;  it  has 
yielded  slightly,  nipping  the  ship,  inclining  her 
to  port,  and  lifting  her  stern  about  a  foot.  Occa 
sional  groan  ings  within,  and  surgings  of  the  ice 
without. 

Our  boats,  provisions,  sledges,  knapsacks,  and 
equipment,  are  ready  for  a  hasty  departure, — 
beyond  this  we  can  do  nothing ;  as  long  as  our 
friendly  barrier  lasts  we  need  not  fear,  but  who 
can  tell  the  moment  it  may  be  demolished,  and 
the  ship  exposed  to  destruction  ?  I  am  scrib 
bling  within  a  foot  of  the  sternpost — in  fact, 
there  is  a  notch  in  my  table  to  receive  it;  and 
1  sympathize  with  its  constant  groanings ;  the  ice 
allows  it  no  rest. 

27/A.  —  Strong  N.W.  gale  with  a  return  of 
cold  weather.  We  have  drifted  39  miles  in  the 
last  forty-eight  hours !  The  lane  is  open ;  the 
whole  pack  appears  to  have  plenty  of  room  to 
drift,  and,  I  am  happy  to  add,  is  taking  advan 
tage  of  it,  —  so  much  so  that  the  smaller  pieces 


88  BREAKING  UP  OF  ICE.  CHAP.  VI 

floating  freely  in  the  lane  can  hardly  go  at  the 
same  pace.  Our  remaining  winter  companion, 
the  iceberg,  was  in  sight  a  few  clays  ago,  far  away 
to  the  N.W. ;  it  may  be  still  visible  from  aloft, 
but  these  March  gales  cut  so  keenly,  that  the 
crow's-nest  is  but  seldom  visited. 

31st.  —  Another  N.W.  gale  ;  it  is  also  spring 
tides,  and  this  conjunction  makes  one  fearful  of 
ice  movement  and  pressure ;  but  it  seems  as  if 
the  pack  had  more  room  to  move  in,  as  it  does 
not  close  much.  Seals  are  often  shot,  bear  tracks 
are  common,  and  narwhals  are  frequently  seen 
migrating  northward.  The  bears  must  prefer 
the  night-time  for  wandering  about,  else  we 
could  not  help  seeing  them ;  we  often  find  their 
tracks  within  a  few  hundred  yards  of  the  ship. 

Although  the  last,  yet  this  is  the  coldest  day 
of  the  month  —  the  thermometer  down  to  -27°. 
.The  mean  temperature  for  March  has  been  unu 
sually  high,  -3° ;  whilst  Lieutenant  De  Haven's 
was  -17°.  Notwithstanding  that  heavy  S.E. 
gales  have  three  times  driven  us  backward,  yet 
we  have  advanced  100  miles  further  down  Davis* 
Straits. 

6t7i  April.  —  To-day  we  enjoy  line  weather,  the 
more  so  since  it  comes  after  a  tremendous  north 
erly  gale  of  forty-eight  hours'  duration.  Two 
days  ago  the  friendly  old  floe,  so  long  our  bul 
wark  of  defence,  was  cracked ;  the  Line  of  water 
thus  formed  soon  widened  to  GO  yards,  passed 


APR.  1858.  BREAKING  UP  OF  ICE.  89 

within  30  yards  of  the  '  Fox/  and  cut  off  three 
of  our  boats.  Yesterday  morning  another  crack 
detached  the  remaining  30  yards  from  us,  and  as 
it  widened  the  ship  swung  across  the  opening ;  as 
quickly  as  we  could  effect  it  the  ship  was  again 
placed  alongside  the  ice  and  within  a  projecting 
point ;  had  it  closed  only  a  few  feet  whilst  she 
lay  across  the  lane,  the  consequences  must  have 
been  very  serious.  Even  to  effect  this  slight 
change  of  position  we  were  fully  occupied  for 
four  hours  ;  for  the  gale  blew  furiously,  and  ther 
mometer  stood  at  12°  below  zero,  and  the  cold 
was  very  much  felt ;  our  hawsers  were  frozen  so 
stiff  as  to  be  quite  unmanageable,  and  we  were 
obliged  to  use  the  chain  cables  to  warp  the  ship 
into  safety. 

Throughout  yesterday  the  wind  continued  ex 
tremely  strong  and  keen,  —  fortunately  the  ice 
remained  perfectly  still :  our  funnels  refused  to 
draw  up  the  smoke ;'  so  that  between  the  suffoca 
tion,  the  cold,  and  anxiety  lest  the  ice  should 
move,  our  Easter  Monday  was  sufficiently  miser 
able.  The  half  of  our  poor  dogs  were  cut  off 
from  the  ship  by  the  lane,  and  continued  to  howl 
dismally  until  late,  when  the  new  ice  over  the 
lane  was  strong  enough  to  bear  them,  and  they 
came  across  to  us. 

To-day  we  have  recovered  the  boats,  shot  four 
seals,  seen  two  whales,  and  much  water  to  the 
8* 


90  OUT  OF  THE  PACK.  CHAP.  VI. 

eastward ;  we  are  in  latitude  67°  IS'  N.,  and 
highly  delighted  with  the  rapidity  of  our  south- 
em  drift. 

Wl/i. — Yesterday  cvo/_ing  the  setting  sun  ren 
dered  visible  the  western  land,  probably  Cape 
Dyer.  We  have  drifted  70  miles  in  the  last  week, 
and  are  only  18  miles  from  De  Haven's  position 
of  escape ;  but  as  we  are  two  months  earlier,  we 
must  expect  to  be  carried  farther  south. 

12//2. —  This  morning  we  drifted  ingloriously 
out  of  the  Arctic  regions,  and  with  what  very  dif 
ferent  feelings  from  those  with  which  we  crossed 
the  Arctic  circle  eight  months  ago  !  However, 
we  have  not  done  with  it  yet ;  directly  the  ice  lets 
us  go,  we  will  (D.  V.)  re-enter  the  frigid  zone,  and 
"  try  again,"  with,  I  trust,  better  success. 

A  gull  and  a  few  terns  appeared  to-day ;  these 
are  the  first  of  our  summer  visitors.  The  tem 
perature  improves;  yesterday  at  one  o'clock  it 
was  -(-19°  in  the  shade,  -(-15°  in  the  crow's-nest 
70  feet  high,  and  -|-510  against  a  black  surface 
exposed  to  the  sun. 

16//4. —  Last  night  a  bear  came  to  the  ship,  was 
wounded,  but  escaped ;  to-day  the  tracks  were 
followed  up  for  three  miles,  the  bear  found,  and 
again  wounded  —  finally  the  unlucky  beast  was 
shot  in  the  water  seven  miles  from  the  ship ;  it 
was  lost  in  consequence  of  the  rapid  drifting  of 
the  ice,  which  ran  over  the  floating  carcase. 


APR.  1858.  DOGS  LOST.  9] 

Tonight  a  dense  fog-bank  rests  upon  the  water 
to  the  southward ;  its  upper  edge  is  illuminated 
by  aurora,  showing  a  faint  tremulous  light. 

ITth.  —  Another  northerly  gale  ;  holding  fast  to 
the  ice  with  three  hawsers ;  snow-drift  limits  the 
view  to  a  couple  of  miles,  so  all  to  the  eastward 
appears  water,  and  to  the  westward  ice. 

Last  night  the  ice  opened  considerably ;  to  se 
cure  the  ship  occupied  us  for  six  hours ;  several 
of  the  dogs  were  again  cut  off;  as  the  ice  they 
were  on  was  rapidly  drifting  away,  I  sent  a  boat 
to  recover  them ;  it  was  a  difficult  and  hazardous 
business,  but  at  length  the  boat  and  dogs  re 
turned  in  safety,  to  my  great  relief,  for  it  was 
both  dark  and  late. 

ISth.  —  Yesterday  morning  when  I  wrote  up 
my  journal,  I  was  hoping  to  hold  on  quietly  to 
the  floe-edge  until  the  wind  moderated,  when 
with  clear  weather  we  could  take  advantage  of 
the  openings  and  make  some  progress  towards  the 
clear  sea.  We  were  unable  to  hold  on,  for  the 
floe-edge  broke  away,  setting  us  adrift ;  some  time 
was  occupied  in  fetching  off  the  boats  and  dogs, 
—  five  of  the  latter  unfortunately  would  not  allow 
themselves  to  be  caught.  As  speedily  as  possible 
the  rudder  was  shipped  and  sail  set,  and  before 
three  o'clock  the  ship  was  running  fast  to  the 
eastward !  During  the  night  the  ice  closed,  and 
at  daylight  scarcely  any  water  was  visible ;  with 
the  exception  of  a  couple  of  icebergs,  all  the  ice 


92  THE  ARCTIC  BEAR.  CHAP.  VI. 

in  sight  was  not  more  than  two  days  old;  it 
mainly  owes  its  origin  and  rapid  growth  to  the 
immense  quantities  of  snow  blown  off  the  pack. 

It  still  blows  hard,  and  the  thermometer  stands 
at  11°.  A  sudden  opening  of  the  ice  this  fore 
noon  allowed  us  to  run  a  few  miles  southward, 
and  then  it  closed  again ;  we  are  now  surrounded 
by  young  ice. 

20/7*.  — We  have  been  carried  rapidly  past  the 
position  where  the  Arctic  discovery  ship  '  Reso 
lute  '  was  picked  up. 

Yesterday  three  bears,  a  fulmar  petrel,  and  a 
snow  bunting  were  seen ;  to-day  a  fine  bear  came 
within  150  yards,  and  was  shot  by  our  sportsmen  ; 
as  they  were  standing  round  it  afterwards  upon 
the  ice,  a  small  seal,  the  only  one  seen  for  several 
days,  popped  up  its  head  as  if  to  exult  over  its 
fallen  enemy  —  it  was  of  course  instantly  shot : 
we  have  learnt  to  esteem  seal's  liver  for  breakfast 
very  highly. 

It  seems  hardly  right  to  call  polar  bears  land 
animals;  they  abound  here, — 110  geographical 
miles  from  the  nearest  land,  —  upon  very  loose 
broken-up  ice,  which  is  steadily  drifting  into  the 
Atantic  at  the  rate  of  12  or  14  miles  daily ;  to  re 
main  upon  it  would  insure  their  destruction  were 
they  not  nearly  amphibious ;  they  hunt  by  scent, 
and  are  constantly  running  across  and  against  the 
wind,  which  prevails  from  the  northward,  so  that 
the  same  instinct  which  directs  their  search  for 


APR.  1858.  THE  ARCTIC  BEAR.  93 

prey,  also  serves  the  important  purpose  of  guid 
ing  them  in  the  direction  of  the  land  and  more 
solid  ice. 

I  remarked  that  the  upper  part  of  both  Bruin's 
fore-paws  were  rubbed  quite  bare;  Petersen  ex 
plains  that  to  surprise  the  seal  a  bear  crouches 
down  with  his  fore-paws  doubled  underneath,  and 
pushes  himself  noiselessly  forward  with  his  hind 
er  legs  until  within  a  few  yards,  when  he  springs 
upon  the  unsuspecting  victim,  whether  in  the 
water  or  upon  the  ice.  The  Greenland ers  are 
fond  of  bear's  flesh,  but  never  eat  either  the  heart 
or  liver,  and  say  that  these  parts  cause  sickness. 
No  instance  is  known  of  Greenland  bears  attack 
ing  men,  except  when  wounded  or  provoked; 
they  never  disturb  the  Esquimaux  graves,  although 
they  seldom  fail  to  rob  a  cache  of  seal's  flesh, 
which  is  a  similar  construction  of  loose  stones 
above  ground. 

A  native  of  Upernivik,  one  dark  winter's  day. 
was  out  visiting  his  seal-nets.  He  found  a  seal 
entangled,  and,  whilst  kneeling  down  over  it  upon 
the  ice  to  get  it  clear,  he  received  a  slap  on  the 
back  —  from  his  companion  as  he  supposed ;  but 
a  second  and  heavier  blow  made  him  look  smartly 
round.  He  was  horror-stricken  to  see  a  pecu 
liarly  grim  old  bear  instead  of  his  comrade !  with 
out  deigning  further  notice  of  the  man,  Bruin  tore 
the  seal  out  of  the  net  and  commenced  his  sup- 


94  THE  OCEAN  SWELL.  CIIAP.  VI 

per.  He  was  not  interrupted ;  nor  did  the  man 
wait  to  see  the  meal  finished. 

I  had  long  ago  resolved,  if  we  escaped  before 
the  15th,  or  the  20th  April  at  the  latest,  to  go  to 
Newfoundland  to  refresh  the  crew  and  to  refit, 
oven  if  no  damage  from  the  ice  should  be  sus 
tained.  In  order  to  do  so  it  would  have  been 
necessary  for  us  to  visit  a  Greenland  port  for  a 
supply  of  water.  We  could  not  have  calculated 
upon  much  assistance  from  our  engines  upon  such 
a  voyage^  Mr.  Brand  alone  being  capable  of  work 
ing  the  engines,  so  that  ten  or  twelve  hours  daily 
is  all  the  steaming  that  could  have  been  ex 
pected. 

But  we  are  still  ice-locked,  so  I  purpose  going 
to  Holsteinborg  in  preference  to  a  more  southern 
port,  as.  there  we  may  expect  to  get  reindeer  and 
a  small  supply  of  stores  suitable  to  our  wants. 
The  whalers  sometimes  reach  Disco  in  March, 
Upernivik  in  May,  and  the  North  Water  early  in 
June.  Unless  we  should  be  at  once  set  free,  we 
would  not  have  time  to  spare  for  a  Newfoundland 
voyage. 

Uth.  —  Another  anxious  week  has  passed.  Lat 
terly  we  have  experienced  south-westerly  cur 
rents  similar  to  those  which  Parry  describes  when 
beset  here  in  June,  1819.  To-day  we  have  hail 
a  strong  R.E.  breeze,  with  snow  and  dark  weather. 
The  wind  had  greatly  moderated  when  the  swell 


APR.  1858  AN  ICE-TOURNAMENT.  95 

reached  us  about  eight  o'clock  this  evening.  It 
is  now  ten  o'clock ;  the  long  ocean  swell  already 
lifts  its  crest  five  feet  above  the  hollow  of  the  sea. 
causing  its  thick  covering  of  icy  fragments  to 
dash  against  each  other  and  against  us  with  un 
pleasant  violence.  It  is  however  very  beautiful 
to  look  upon,  the  dear  old  familiar  ocean-swell ! 
it  has  long  been  a  stranger  to  us,  and  is  welcome 
in  our  solitude.  If  the  '  Fox '  was  as  solid  as  her 
neighbors,  I  am  quite  sure  she  would  enter  into 
this  ice-tournament  with  all  their  apparent  hearti 
ness,  instead  of  audibly  making  known  her  suffer 
ings  to  us.  Every  considerable  surface  of  ice  has 
been  broken  into  many  smaller  ones ;  with  feel 
ings  of  exultation  I  watched  the  process  from 
aloft.  A  floe-piece  near  us,  of  100  yards  in  diame 
ter,  was  speedily  cracked  so  as  to  resemble  a  sort 
of  labyrinth,  or,  still  more,  a  field-spider's  web. 
In  the  course  of  half  an  hour  the  family  resem 
blance  was  totally  lost;  they  had  so  battered 
each  other,  and  struggled  out  of  their  original 
regularity.  The  rolling  sea  can  no  longer  be 
checked;  "the  pack  has  taken  upon  itself  the 
functions  of  an  ocean,"  as  Dr.  Kane  graphically 
expresses  it. 

26^.  —  At  sea!  How  am  I  to  describe  the 
events  of  the  last  two  days?  It  has  pleased  God 
to  accord  to  us  a  deliverance  in  which  His  merci 
ful  protection  contrasts  —  how  strongly  !  —  with 
our  own  utter  helplessness;  as  if  the  successive 


96  THE  'FOX'  IN  PERIL.  CHAP.  VI 

mercies  vouchsafed  to  us  during  our  long,  long 
winter  and  mysterious  ice-drift  had  been  con 
centrated  and  repeated  in  a  single  act.  Thus 
forcibly  does  His  great  goodness  come  home  to 
the  mind ! 

I  am  in  no  humor  for  writing,  being  still  tired, 
seedy,  and  perhaps  a  little  seasick ;  at  least  I  have 
a  headache,  caused  by  the  rolling  of  the  ship  and 
rattling  noise  of  everything. 

On  Saturday  night,  the  24th,  I  went  on  deck 
to  spend  the  greater  part  of  it  in  watching,  and 
to  determine  what  to  do.  The  swell  greatly  in 
creased;  it  had  evidently  been  approaching  for 
hours  before  it  reached  us,  since  it  rose  in  propor 
tion  as  the  ice  was  broken  up  into  smaller  pieces. 
In  a  short  time  but  few  of  them  were  equal  in 
size  to  the  ship's  deck ;  most  of  them  not  half  so 
large.  I  knew  that  near  the  pack-edge  the  sea 
would  be  very  heavy  and  dangerous;  but  the 
wind  was  now  fair,  and  having  auxiliary  steam- 
power,  I  resolved  to  push  out  of  the  ice  if  possi 
ble. 

Shortly  after  midnight  the  ship  was  under  sail, 
slowly  boring  her  way  to  the  eastward ;  at  two 
o'clock  on  Sunday  morning  commenced  steaming, 
the  wind  having  failed.  By  eight  o'clock  we  had 
advanced  considerably  to  the  eastward,  and  the 
swell  had  become  dangerously  high,  the  waves 
rising  ten  feet  above  the  trough  of  the  sea.  The 
shocks  of  the  ice  against  the  ship  were  alarmingly 


APR.  1*58.  CLEAR  OF  THE  PACK.  97 

heavy ;  it  became  necessary  to  steer  exactly  head- 
on  to  swell.  We  slowly  passed  a  small  iceberg 
60  or  70  feet  high;  the  swell  forced  it  crashing 
through  the  pack,  leaving  a  small  water-space  in 
its  wake,  but  sufficient  to  allow  the  seas  to  break 
against  its  cliffs,  and  throw  the  spray  in  heavy 
showers  quite  over  its  summit. 

The  day  wore  on  without  change,  except  that 
the  snow  and  mists  cleared  off!  Gradually  the 
swell  increased,  and  rolled  along  more  swiftly, 
becoming  in  fact  a  very  heavy  regular  sea,  rather 
than  a  swell.  The  ice  often  lay  so  closely  packed 
that  we  could  hardly  force  ahead,  although  the 
fair  wind  had  again  freshened  up.  Much  heavy 
hummocky  ice  and  large  berg-pieces  lay  dispersed 
through  the  pack ;  a  single  thump  from  any  of 
them  would  have  been  instant  destruction.  By 
five  o'clock  the  ice  became  more  loose,  and  clear 
spaces  of  water  could  be  seen  ahead.  We  went 
faster,  received  fewer  though  still  more  severe 
shocks,  until  at  length  we  had  room  to  steer 
clear  of  the  heaviest  pieces ;  and  at  eight  o'clock 
we  emerged  from  the  yillanpus  ^pack,"  and  were 
running  fast  through  straggling  pieces  into  a  clear 
sea.  The  engines  were  stopped,  and  Mr.  Brand 
permitted  to  rest  after  eighteen  hours'  duty,  for 
we  now  have  no  one  else  capable  of  driving  the 


engines. 


Throughout  the  day  I  trembled  for  the  safety 
of  the  rulder,  and  screw ;  deprived  of  the  one  or 
9  o 


98  DANGER  FROM  ICE-MASSES.  CHAP.  VL 

the  other,  even  for  half  an  hour,  I  think  our  fate 
would  have  been  sealed ;  to  have  steered  in  any 
other  direction  than  against  the  swell  would  have 
exposed,  and  probably  sacrificed  both. 

Our  bow  is  very  strongly  fortified,  well  plated 
externally  with  iron,  and  so  very  sharp  that  the 
ice-masses,  repeatedly  hurled  against  the  ship  by 
the  swell  as  she  rose  to  meet  it,  were  thus  robbed 
of  their  destructive  force ;  they  struck  us  ob 
liquely,  yet  caused  the  vessel  to  shake  violently, 
the  bells  to  ring,  and  almost  knocked  us  off 
our  legs.  On  many  occasions  the  engines  were 
stopped  dead  by  ice  choking  the  screw ;  once  it 
was  some  minutes  before  it  could  be  got  to  re- 
.volve  again.  Anxious  moments  those  ! 

After  yesterday's  experience  I  can  understand 
how  men's  hair  has  turned  grey  in  a  few  hours. 
Had  self-reliance  been  my  only  support  and  hope, 
it  is  not  impossible  that  I  might  have  illustrated 
the  fact.  Under  the  circumstances  I  did  my  best 
to  insure  our  safety,  looked  as  stoical  as  possible, 
and  inwardly  trusted  that  God  would  favor  our 
exertions.  What  a  release  ours  has  been,  not 
only  from  eight  months'  imprisonment,  but  from 
the  perils  of  that  one  day  !  Had  our  little  vessel 
been  destroyed  after  the  ice  broke  up,  there  re 
mained  no  hope  for  us.  But  we  have  been 
brought  safely  through,  and  are  all  truly  grateful, 
I  hope,  and  believe. 

I  grieve  to  think  of  poor  Lady  Franklin  and 


APR.  1858.      'STEERING  FOB  HOLSTEINBORG.  99 

our  friends  at  home.  Severely  as  we  have  felt 
the  failure  of  our  first  season's  operations,  yet  the 
ordeal  is  now  over  with  us :  not  so  with  her  and 
them,  —  they  have  still  to  experience  that  bitter 
disappointment. 

Our  distance  within  the  pack-edge,  where  we 
first  made  sail  yesterday,  was  22  miles.  Before 
we  got  clear  of  the  ice  the  height  of  the  waves 
was  log  feet ;  after  passing  through  the  last  of  it 
there  was  no  increase,  but  the  sea  was  more  con 
fused;  in  fact,  within  the  ice  all  minor  disturb 
ances  were  quelled  or  merged  into  one  regular 
fast-following  swell.  The  ship  and  her  machinery 
behaved  most  admirably  in  the  struggle  ;  should 
I  ever  have  to  pass  through  such  an  ice-coveredj 
heaving  ocean  again,  let  me  secure  a  passage  in 
the  <  Fox/ 

During  our  242  days  in  the  packed-ice  of  Baf 
fin's  Bay  and  Davis'  Straits  we  were  drifted  1194 
geographical  or  1385  statute  miles ;  it  is  the  long 
est  drift  I  know  of,  and  our  winter,  as  a  whole, 
may  be  considered  as  having  been  mild,  but  very 
wind}7. 

We  are  steering  now  for  Holsteinborg,  where 
I  intend  to  refit  and  refresh  the  crew ;  it  is  re 
puted  to  be  the  best  place  for  reindeer  upoo 
the  coast. 


100  ANCHORED  AT  HOLSTEINBORG.       CHAP.  VIL 


CHAPTER    VII. 

A  holiday  in  Greenland  —  A  lady  blue  with  cold  —  The  loves  of  Green- 
landers  —  Close  shaving  —  Meet  the  whalers  —  Information  oi  whal 
ers —  Disco  —  Danish  hospitality — Sail  from  Disco  —  Kindness  of 
the  whalers  —  Danish  establishments  in  Greenland. 

Wednesday  night,  April  28th.  —  SAFELY  anchored  at 
Holsteinborg,  and  moored  to  the  rocks ;  a  charm 
ing  change,  after  our  position  only  a  few  clays 
back.  We  have  been  visited  by  the  Danish  resi 
dents  —  the  chief  trader  or  governor,  the  priest, 
and  two  others :  their  latest  European  intelligence 
is  not  more  recent  than  our  own,  but  the  Danish 
ship  is  hourly  expected;  she  usually  leaves  Co 
penhagen  about  the  middle  of  March. 

The  winter  here  has  been  just  the  reverse  of 
our  own  experience ;  it  has  been  severe  in  point 
of  temperature,  but  with  very  little  wind  ;  the 
land  lies  buried  in  snow,  and  as  yet  there  is  no 
thaw ;  it  is  too  early  for  the  codfishery,  and  not 
a  single  reindeer  has  been  killed  throughout  the 
winter!  Eider-ducks,  looms,  and  dovekies  are 
abundant,  as  well  as  hares  and  ptarmigan. 

29/7*.  —  A  bright  and  lovely  day.  Our  poor, 
half-famished  dogs  have  been  landed  near  the 
carcase?  of  four  whales,  so  they  must  be  su- 


APR.  1858.  HOLIDAY  IN  GREENLAND.  101 

premely  happy.  I  visited  the  Governor  to-day, 
and  found  his  little  wooden  house  as  scrupulously 
clean  and  neat  as  the  houses  of  the  Danish  res 
idents  in  Greenland  invariably  are.  The  only 
ornaments  about  the  room  were  portraits  of  his 
unfortunate  wife  and  two  children:  they  em 
barked  at  Copenhagen  last  year  to  rejoin  him, 
and  the  ill-fated  vessel  has  never  since  been  heard 
of.  Poor  Governor  Elberg  is  in  ill  health,  and 
talks  of  returning  home  —  by  home  he  means 
Denmark,  the  land  of  his  birth,  and  where  once 
he  had  a  home. 

30^.  —  This  is  a  grand  Danish  holiday ;  the  in 
habitants  are  all  dressed  in  their  Sunday  clothes 
—  at  least,  all  who  have  got  a  change  of  gar 
ments  —  and  there  is  both  morning  and  evening 
service  in  the  small  wooden  church.  As  the 
Governor  could  not  be  persuaded  to  unlock  the 
door  of  the  dance-house,  our  men  returned  on 
board  early ;  yesterday  evening  they  were  all  on 
shore,  and,  with  the  Esquimaux,  were  squeezed 
into  this  one  large  room:  to  be  squeezed  in  a 
crowd  of  human  beings  is  positive  enjoyment 
after  a  winter's  isolation  such  as  ours  has  been. 
Old  Harvey  constituted  himself  master  of  the 
ceremonies,  and  with  his  flute  led  the  orchestra ; 
it  consisted  of  one  other  flute  and  a  fiddle ;  he 
managed  to  perch  himself  above  all  the  rest, 
at  one  end  of  the  room,  and  played  with  such 
vigor  that  our  bluejackets  and  the  Esquimaux 


102  HOLIDAY  IN  GREENLAND.  CHAP.  VII, 

ladies  danced  away  most  furiously  for  hours. 
These  ladies  can  dance  in  the  least  possible 
space,  their  costume  being  particularly  well 
adapted  for  the  purpose,  partaking  as  it  does 
much  more  of  the  "  Bloomer  "  than  the  "  crin 
oline." 

Christian  looks  immensely  happy :  his  country 
men  regard  him  as  a  man  whose  fortune  is  made, 
and  the  women  gaze  with  admiration  upon  his 
neat  sailor's  dress,  and  his  good-natured,  full,  round 
face,  and  huge,  fat,  shining  cheeks ;  Mr.  Petersen 
is  in  great  request  to  interpret  between  the  Eng 
lish,  Danes,  and  Esquimaux. 

1th  Mai/.  —  I  intended  sailing  for  Disco  this 
morning,  but  wind  and  weather  were  adverse. 
We  have  obtained  But  little  here  except  water, 
a  tolerable  supply  of  rock  cod,  some  ptarmigan 
hares,  wildfowl,  and  a  few  items  of  stores.  The 
Governor  noiv  thinks  the  Danish  ship  must  have 
been  directed  to  visit  Godhaab  before  coming  here. 
We  have  left  letters  to  go  home  in  her,  and  they 
ought  to  be  in  England  by  the  end  of  June. 

I  visited  to-day  a  small  lake  at  the  foot  of 
Mount  Cunningham;  it  is  said  to  occupy  the 
centre  of  an  extinct  volcano  :  but  I  saw  nothing 
to  bear  out  the  assertion.  This  is  the  only  part 
of  Greenland  where  earthquakes  are  felt.  The 
Governor  told  me  of  an  unusually  severe  shock 
which  occurred  a  winter  or  two  ago.  He  was  sit 
ting  in  his  room  reading  at  the  time,  when  he 


MAT,  1858.  AN  EARTHQUAKE.  103 

heard  a  loud  noise  like  the  discharge  of  a  cannon; 
immediately  afterwards  a  tremulous  motion  was 
felt,  some  glasses  upon  the  table  began  to  dance 
about,  and  papers  lying  upon  the  window-sill  fell 
down :  after  a  few  seconds  it  ceased.  He  thinks 
the  motion  originated  at  the  lake,  as  it  was  not 
felt  by  some  people  living  beyond  it,  and  that  it 
passed  from  N.E.  to  S.W. 

This  mountain  scenery  is  really  charming ;  but 
a  little  more,  animal  life  —  reindeer,  for  instance 
—  would  make  it  far  more  pleasing  in  our  eyes. 
The  last  twelvemonth's  produce  of  this  district 
amounts  only  to  500  reindeer  skins  instead  of  3000, 
as  in  ordinary  years.  The  clergyman  of  Holstein- 
borg  was  born  in  this  colony,  and  has  succeeded 
his  father  in  the  priestly  office ;  his  wife  is  the 
only  European  female  in  the  colony.  Being  told 
that  fuel  was  extremely  scarce  in  the  Danish 
houses,  and  that  "  the  priest's  wife  was  blue  with 
the  cold,"  I  sent  on  shore  a  present  of  some  coals. 

On  Sunday  afternoon,  hearing  the  church  bell 
ringing  I  went  on  shore.  It  proved  to  be  only 
a  christening.  The  little  dusky  infant  received  a 
long  string  of  European  names.  There  was  a 
small  description  of  barrel-organ,  to  the  sound  of 
which  the  congregation  joined  in,  keeping  up  a 
loud  monotonous  chant.  Most  of  the  young 
people  had  hymn-books  in  their  hands,  printed 
in  the  Esquimaux  language. 

Ravens  seem  very  abundant,  also  large  grey 


104  THE  LOVES  OF  GREENLANDERS.      CHAP.  VII 

falcons:  perhaps  the  dead  whales  may  have  at 
tracted  an  unusual  number. 

Poor  Christian  has  not  only  fallen  desperately 
in  love,  but  has  engaged  himself  to  the  object 
of  his  affections,  a  pretty  Esquimaux  girl.  He 
asked  me  to-day  to  give  her  a  passage  up  to  God- 
havn,  as  he  wished  to  leave  her  in  charge  of  his 
mother  until  his  return  there  with  us  next  year, 
when  his  engagement  for  the  voyage  would  be 
fulfilled.  Having  heard  a  rumor  of  a  young 
woman  awaiting  his  return  at  Godhavn,  I  taxed 
him  with  it,  but  he  replied  with  great  simplicity 
that  "  he  had  never  promised  her,  and  would  not 
marry  her,  as  his  friends  objected  to  the  match!" 
What  are  the  good  Greenlanders  coming  to  ?  I 
recommended  that  he  should  have  his  betrothed 
in  her  own  home,  with  her  mother  and  family. 
His  asking  a  passage  for  her,  in  order  to  leave  her 
with  his  mother,  is  strong  proof  of  the  sincerity  of 
his  engagement,  not  only  to  his  lady  love,  but  to 
the  <  Fox '  also. 

I  have  written  to  the  admiralty  to  account  for 
my  prolonged  absence  from  England ;  and  to  Dr. 
Rink  to  acquaint  him  with  the  cause  of  my  second 
visit  to  his  inspectorate. 

Governor  Elberg  has  promised  to  get  me  some 
fossil  fish,  to  be  found  only  in  North  Strom  Fiord : 
they  are  interesting,  as  being  of  unknown  geologi 
cal  date. 

.  —  On  the  morning  of  the  8th  we  left  Hoi- 


MAY,  1858.  STOPPED  BY  THE  ICE.  105 

steinborg  with  a  pleasant  land  wind  and  blight 
weather.  When  15  miles  off  shore  we  weie 
stopped  by  ice  formed  during  the  last  two  nights, 
the  thermometer  having  fallen  to  12° ;  out  in  the 
offing  the  weather  was  gloomy  and  cold,  and 
strong  northerly  winds  were  blowing.  On  clos 
ing  the  land  again,  we  regained  the  offshore  wind, 
and  bright  weather. 

Keeping  close  alongshore,  and  threading  our 
way  through  a  vast  deal  of  "  pack  "  and  numerous 
icebergs,  we  gained  sight  of  Disco  about  noon  to 
day,  and  by  the  evening  were  within  an  hour's 
sail  of  Godhavn,  when  we  were  again  stopped 
by  a  broad  belt  of  ice  stretching  along  the  coast  • 
this  was  a  bitter  disappointment,  more  particu 
larly  as  a  gale  of  wind  with  heavy  sea  was  fast 
rising,  and  snow  beginning  to  fall  thickly ;  there 
was  nothing  for  it,  however,  but  to  stand  off  under 
easy  sail  for  the  night. 

12th. —  At  anchor  at  the  Whalefish  Islands.  On 
the  evening  of  the  10th  we  stood  off  from  the 
inhospitable  barrier  of  ice,  prepared  to  meet  the 
storm ;  snow  fell  so  thickly  that  we  could  hardly 
see  the  icebergs  in  time  to  avoid  them.  We 
supposed  ourselves  to  be  well  to  leeward  of 
the  Whalefish  Islands,  but  were  deceived  by  the 
tides  ;  suddenly  a  small,  low  islet  was  seen  on  the 
lee  bow ;  not  being  able  to  pass  to  windward,  we 
were  obliged  to  wear  ship,  and,  in  doing  so,  passed 
within  the  ship's  length  of  destruction  —  for  we 


106  WHALEFISII  ISLANDS.  CHAP.  VII 

were  certainly  within  that  distance  of  the  rocks ! 
The  islet  was  covered  with  snow,  and  but  for 
some  very  few  dark  points  showing  through,  it 
could  not  be  distinguished  from  ice.  On  the  llth 
the  weather  improved,  and  in  the  evening  we 
came  to  our  present  anchorage.  From  a  hill  we 
can  watch  an  opportunity  to  enter  Godhavn. 
Notwithstanding  the  blowing  weather,  some  na 
tives  came  about  five  miles  off  to  us ;  the  water 
washed  over  their  little  kayaks,  and  kept  the  occu 
pants'  sealskin  dresses  streaming  with  wet  up  to 
their  shoulders ;  this  part  of  their  dress  seems 
rather  part  of  the  kayak,  as  it  is  attached  to  it 
round  the  hole  in  which  the  kayakcr  sits,  so  that 
no  water  can  enter.  It  is  wonderful  to  see  how 
closely  a  man  can  assimilate  his  habits  to  those  of 
a  fish. 

The  Danish  cooper  in  charge  of  this  out-station 
tells  us  there  are  thirteen  English  whalers  already 
out,  and  some  of  them  have  been  up  to  the  north 
end  of  Disco ;  two  vessels  are  in  sight.  The 
world,  it  appears,  is  at  peace.  Petersen  was  at 
one  time  in  charge  of  this  station ;  he  is  :iow 
seeking  out  his  old  acquaintances. 

14//4.  —  Summer  has  suddenly  burst  upon  ns  — 
thermometer  up  to  40° ;  moreover,  we  are  enjoy 
ing  English  newspapers,  and  have  dined  off  roast 
beef  and  vegetables  ! 

Two  days  ago  I  sent  a  note  off  to  a  whaler  by 
a  kayak,  requesting  her  captain  to  lend  me  some 


MAY,  1858.  MEET  THE  WHALERS.  107 

newspapers ;  the  note  reached  Captain  J.  Walker, 
of  the  A  Jane/  and  yesterday  his  ship,  accompa 
nied  by  the  '  Heroine/  Captain  J.  Simpson,  ap 
proached  us,  and  they  both  came  in  to  call  upon 
me,  each  of  them  bringing  the  very  acceptable 
present  of  some  newspapers,  besides  a  quarter  of 
beef,  with  vegetables.  Nothing  could  exceed  their 
sincere  good  feeling  and  kindness;  they  offered 
to  supply  me  with  anything  their  ships  could 
afford.  The  account  they  give  of  last  season  is 
as  follows :  the  whalers  reached  Devil's  Point, 
near  Melville  Bay,  as  early  as  the  21st  of  May ; 
southerly  winds  then  set  in,  and  blew  incessantly 
for  six  weeks,  during  all  which  time  they  were 
closely  beset,  and  the  ships  ;  Gipsy '  and  '  Un 
daunted'  were  crushed.  When  able  to  move,  the 
fleet  returned  southward  along  the  "  pack-edge/' 
which  was  everywhere  found  to  be  impenetrable ; 
they  sailed  southward  of  Disco,  and  about  the 
middle  of  July  the  earliest  ships  rounded  the 
southern  extremity  of  middle  ice  in  lat.  682°,  and 
found  no  difficulty  in  their  further  passage  to 
Pond's  Bay.  Captain  Walker  says  ships  could 
not  have  reached  Lancaster  Sound,  as  there  was 
much  ice  north  of  Pond's  Bay  which  he  thought 
extended  quite  across  to  Melville  Bay. 

The  position  of  the  ice  last  season  was  con 
sidered  to  be  most  unusual ;  the  long  prevalence 
of  southerly  winds  appeared  to  have  separated  the 
tail  of  the  pack  from  the  main  body,  the  former 


108  UNUSUAL  POSITION  OF  ICE.  CHAP.  Vll 

lying  against  the  west  land  about  Cape  Searle, 
whilst  the  latter  was  forced  northward  and  pressed 
closely  into  Melville  Bay;  the  ships  sailed  freely 
between  these  two  great  divisions,  and  found  the 
west  water  unusually  extensive. 

Had  I  been  able  to  collect  a  sufficient  number 
of  sledge-dogs  at  Godhavn  last  year,  it  was  my  in 
tention  to  have  sailed  across  to  the  west  side  if  pos 
sible,  instead  of  pursuing  the  usual  route  through 
Melville  Bay ;  but  the  opinions  of  the  captains  of 
the  lost  whalers  were  in  favor  of  a  "Melville  Bay" 
passage,  and  the  necessity  for  obtaining  dogs  left 
me  no  choice  as  to  whether  I  should  proceed  west, 
or  north  to  Proven  and  Upernivik ;  I  have  already 
recorded  what  were  my  opinions  at  the  time,  so 
need  only  observe  nwv,  that,  although  I  failed,  I  be 
lieve  my  decision  was  justified  by  all  former  ex 
perience,  even  independently  of  the  circumstances 
which  obliged  me  to  adopt  it.  Nevertheless  it  is 
mortifying  to  find  that  ships  had  reached  as  far  as 
Pond's  Bay,  and  with  but  little  difficulty.  Sir 
Edward  Parry,  upon  his  third  voyage,  did  not 
reach  the  west  water  until  very  late  in  the  season, 
although  some  of  the  whalers  met  with  better 
success  by  following  up  another  route. 

There  is  nothing  more  uncertain  than  ice- 
navigation,  dependent  as  it  is  upon  winds,  temper 
atures,  and  currents :  one  can  only  calculate  upon 
"  the  chances,"  and  how  nearly  we  succeeded  we 
have  already  seen.  In  the  preceding  year  (1856) 


MAY,  1858.   UNCERTAINTY  OF  ICE-NAVJGATION.  109 

some  of  the  whalers  got  through  Melville  Bay  as 
early  as  the  15th  June,  only  a  few  days  after  the 
commencement  of  the  summer's  thaw.  Captain 
Walker  tells  me  there  are  many  years  in  which 
the  whalers  can  pass  up  the  western  shore  late  in 
the  season,  but  not  always  so  far  as  Pond's  Bay ; 
of  Melville  Bay  after  the  10th  or  15th  July  they 
know  nothing,  but  the  voyages  of  discovery  afford 
us  ample  details ;  whilst  of  the  southern  route 
almost  nothing  has  been  made  publicly  known. 

There  are  many  intelligent  whaling  captains 
who  possess  much  valuable  knowledge  of  these 
lands  and  seas,  and  even  in  the  terra  incognita 
of  Frobisher's  Straits,  whalers  have  wintered, 
whilst  our  charts  scarcely  afford  even  a  vague 
idea  of  the  configuration  of  these  extensive 
islands.  The  so-called  "  Home  Bay "  has  been 
penetrated  for  fifty  miles,  and  is  supposed  to  be 
a  strait  leading  to  Fox's  Furthest.  Scott's  Inlet 
is  also  said  to  be  a  strait  leading  into  a  western 
arm  of  the  same  sea.  A  surveying  vessel  would 
be  usefully  employed  for  a  couple  of  summers 
in  tracing  the  general  outline  of  these  pos 
sessions  of  Her  Majesty,  more  particularly  as 
they  are  rather  thickly  inhabited  by  Esquimaux 
most  eager  to  barter  their  produce  for  rifles, 
saws,  files,  knives,  needles,  and  such  like  articles. 
Good  coal  has  been  found  upon  Durbin  Island 
(near  Cape  Searle),  in  a  convenient  little  cove 
10 


110  DANISH  HOSPITALITY.  JIIAP.  VII 

upon  its  southern  side  ;  and  as  the  old  sailing 
whalers  are  fast  being  replaced  by  steamers, 
this  place  may  become  of  great  importance  to 
them. 

We  are  refitting,  shooting,  and  devouring 
quantities  of  excellent  mussels;  eider  ducks  are 
very  abundant,  but  extremely  shy.  Poor  puss 
has  been  killed;  tempted  on  deck  by  the  unu 
sually  warm  weather,  she  was  pounced  upon  by 
the  dogs. 

Vlth.  —  Yesterday  our  attempt  to  enter  the 
port  of  Godhavn  failed,  it  is  still  filled  with  ice. 
This  evening  Young  and  I  examined  a  nar 
row  rocky  cove  —  Upernivik  Bay  of  the  natives ; 
finding  it  suitable  for  our  purpose,  the  ship  was 
brought  in  and  moored  to  the  rocks.  We  were 
received  with  much  kindness  by  our  friends, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Olrik,  and  were  presented  with 
a  file  of  late  English  papers.  A  considerable 
supply  of  beer  was  ordered  to  be  brewed  for 
us. 

I  found  Mrs.  Olrik  without  a  fire  in  her  sitting 
room ;  it  was  unnecessary  ;  the  windows  looked  to 
the  south,  and  the  sun  shone  brightly  in  upon  a 
profusion  of  geraniums  and  European  flowers,  at 
once  reminding  one  of  home,  and  refreshing  the 
senses  by  their  perfume  and  beauty ;  the  merry 
voices  of  the  children  were  also  a  most  pleasing 
novelty.  Mr.  Olrik  says  the  past  winter  has  not 


MAY,  1858.          INTERCHANGE  OF  PRESENTS.  HI 

been  in  any  way  remarkable,  except  for  the  pre 
valence  of  strong  winds ;  April  and  the  early 
part  of  May  have  been  unusually  cold. 

2£th.  —  We  did  honor  to  Her  Majesty's  birth 
day  by  dressing  the  '  Fox '  in  all  her  flags,  and 
regaling  her  crew  with  plum-pudding  and  grog. 
The  ice  having  moved  off,  we  have  come  into  the 
harbor  of  Godhavn,  as  being  more  convenient  and 
safe.  The  day  has  been  a  busy  one :  we  have 
completed  our  small  purchases  and  closed  our 
letters ;  I  have  added  another  Esquimaux  lad  to 
our  crew,  taking  with  him  his  rifle,  kayak,  and 
sledge.  This  evening  there  has  been  a  brisk  in 
terchange  of  presents  between  us  and  our  Danish 
friends.  I  have  been  given  an  eider-down  cover 
let  by  the  Governor,  Mr.  Andersen  ;  and,  by  Mrs. 
Olrik,  some  delicious  preserve  of  Greenland  cran 
berries,  a  tin  of  preserved  ptarmigan,  and  a  jar 
of  pickled  whale-skin;  my  table  is  decked  with 
European  flowers,  including  roses,  mignonette, 
and  violets. 

With  good  reason  shall  we  remember  God 
havn  ;  we  have  certainly  been  treated  as  especial 
favorites. 

2£>tk.  —  Left  Godhavn  early  yesterday  morn 
ing,  and  anchored  this  afternoon  in  our  old  posi 
tion  off  the  Coal  Cliffs  in  the  Waigat ;  a  party  of 
seal-hunters  from  Atanekerdluk  came  off  to  us, 
and  their  hunting  having  terminated  successfully, 


112  CuALING  CHAP.  VII 

they  will  assist  us  in  coaling.  From  these  men  I 
obtained  much  information  about  this  part  of  the 
coast ;  within  a  range  of  20  miles  upon  the  Disco 
shore  there  are  four  distinct  coaling  places;  but 
at  this  early  season  two  of  them  are  deeply  cov 
ered  with  snow.  There  is  also  very  good  coal  at 
the  S.E.  end  of  Hare  Island,  where  it  can  be 
easily  obtained.  The  ice  in  this  strait  broke  up 
as  long  ago  as  the  3rd  April ;  it  has  all  drifted 
out  to  the  northward,  only  a  few  icebergs  now 
remain. 

2Sth.  —  Again  hastening  northward ;  the  busi 
ness  of  coaling  was  very  speedily  and  satisfac 
torily  completed,  but  the  quality  of  the  coals  is 
very  inferior.  Upon  the  green  slopes  our  sports 
men  found  nothing  but  a  few  ptarmigan  and  a 
hare. 

Shortly  after  running  close  past  the  deserted 
settlement  of  Noursak,  we  arrived  off  a  small 
bay,  and  were  startled  by  finding  the  water  had 
suddenly  changed  from  transparent  blue  to  a 
thick  muddy  color,  but  there  was  no  change  in 
its  depth ;  we  were  crossing  the  stream  of  "  Mak- 
kaks  Elvin,"  or  Clay  Kiver,  which  empties  itself 
into  the  bay  after  running  through  a  broad  and 
extensive  valley,  said  to  abound  with  reindeer; 
this  river  has  its  origin  in  lakes  and  glaciers  in 
the  interior,  and  the  discoloration  of  the  water 
is  probably  the  chief  cause  of  success  in  white- 


MAY,  1858.        PROXIMITY  OF  THE  WHALERS.  »        113 

whale  fishing,  which  is  carried  on  here  in  the 
autumn,  as  those  timid  animals  will  not  permit 
boats  to  approach  them  in  clear  water. 

This  evening  we  are  crossing  Omenak's  Fiord, 
and  the  land-wind,  which  here  and  all  along  the 
coast  northwards  blows  from  the  N.E.,  has  como 
off  to  us. 

31s/. —  Lying  fast  to  an  iceberg  off  Upernivik. 

The  whalers  are  all  within  a  dozen  miles  of  us, 
unable  to  penetrate  further  north.  The  season 
appears  forward,  and  the  ice  much  decayed  ;  but 
southerly  winds  prevail,  retarding  its  disruption 
and  removal.  Captain  Parker,  of  the  '  Emma/ 
tells  me  he  does  not  expect  to  make  a  north  pas 
sage  this  year,  and  as  his  experience  extends  over 
a  period  of  at  least  thirty  years,  I  give  his  reason  ; 
it  is  simpty  this,  —  that  as  daring  the  months  of 
February,  March,  and  April  northerly  winds  pre 
vailed  to  an  unusual  degree,  therefore  southerly 
winds  may  now  be  expected  to  continue ;  if  be 
prove  a  prophet,  it  will  be  to  our  serious  hinder- 
ance  at  this  critical  season.  Governor  Fliescher 
says  the  winter  has  been  mild ;  there  has  been 
but  little  wind,  and  that  chiefly  from  the  south 
ward. 

Mil  June.  —  We  have  received  much  kindness 
from  our  friends  Captains  Parker  and  J.  Simpson, 
as  well  as  from  others  of  the  whaling  fleet ;  the 
former  has  generously  supplied  us  with  many 
things  we  were  rather  short  of,  not  only  in  ship's 
10*  H 


114  KINDNESS  OF  THE  WHALERS.         CHAP.  VII 

stores,  but  provisions  and  coals,  and  in  return  I 
have  of  course  furnished  him  with  a  receipt  for 
his  owners.  Captain  Simpson  has  most  hand 
somely  presented  the  <  Fox '  with  a  sail  and  yards, 
which,  after  some  slight  alterations,  will  enable  us 
to  add  a  main  topsail  to  our  spread  of  canvas. 
For  the  two  days  we  lay  at  the  iceberg,  alongside 
of  the  '  Emma,'  I  made  furious  attacks  upon  Cap 
tain  Parker's  beefsteaks  and  porter;  we  amply 
availed  ourselves  of  his  hearty  welcome.  By  the 
arrival  of  the  fine  steam  whaler 6  Tay,'  from  Scot 
land,  we  have  received  papers  up  to  17th  April. 

This  morning  we  slowly  steamed  away  from 
Upernivik,  threading  our  wray  betwixt  islands,  and 
ice,  for  about  30  miles,  and  now  await  further  ice 
movement  before  it  will  be  possible  to  proceed. 

These  are  called  the  Woman  Islands,  so  named 
by  the  celebrated  Arctic  explorer  John  Davis, 
who  visited  them  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  reign ;  he 
found  here  only  a  few  old  women,  their  frightened 
lords  and  more  active  juniors  having  effected  their 
escape. 

Upon  one  of  these  islands  a  stone  was  picked 
up  some  30  years  ago,  bearing  a  Runic  inscrip 
tion  ;  it  was  sent  home  to  Copenhagen  as  a  most 
interesting  relic  of  the  early  Scandinavian  voya 
gers  ;  but  nothing  was  on  it  except  the  names  of 
those  men  "who  cleared  this  place"  (or  formed 
a  settlement),  and  the  date,  1135.  In  all  proba 
bility  their  sojourn  was  extremely  short,  perhaps 


JUNK,  1358.  DANISH  ESTABLISHMENTS.  115 

only  for  a  single  summer.  The  Esquimaux  did 
not  make  their  appearance  for  nearly  two  centu 
ries  later. 

After  Egede's  settlement  at  Godhaab  in  1721, 
the  Danish  trading  establishments  gradually  ex 
tended  along  the  coast,  and  Upernivik  was  one  of 
them ;  but  it  appears  to  have  been  soon  aban 
doned.  During  Napoleon's  wars  all  the  Danish 
posts  were  withdrawn,  as  the  British  fleet  effect 
ually  cut  off  communication  with  Europe ;  but 
after  peace  was  restored  in  1815,  the  trading 
posts  were  again  resorted  to,  and  a  new  settle 
ment  formed  near  the  ruins  of  the  old  one  at 
Upernivik ;  it  enjoys  pre-eminence  as  the  most 
northern  abode  of  civilized  man. 


116  THE    'FOX'   NEARLY  WRECKED.    CHAP.  VI1L 


CHAPTER  Yin. 


*  Fox  '  nearly  wrecked  —  Afloat,  and  push  ahead  —  Arctic  hairbreadth 
escapes  —  Nearly  caught  in  the  pack  —  Shooting  little  auks  —  The 
Arctic  Highlanders — Cape  York  —  Crimson  snow — Struggling  to 
the  westward  —  Reach  the  West-land  —  Off  the  entrance  of  Lancaster 
Sound. 


June  8/7^  —  YESTERDAY  morning  we  passed  close 
outside  Buchan  Island ;  it  is  small  but  lofty,  its 
north  side  is  almost  precipitous,  yet  notwithstand 
ing  this  strong  indication  of  deep  water,  a  reef  of 
rocks  lies  about  a  mile  off  it.  I  happened  to  be 
aloft  with  the  look-out-man*  at  half-past  eight 
o'clock  as  we  were  steaming  through  a  narrow  lead 
in  the  ice,  when  I  saw  a  rock  close  ahead  ;  it  was 
capped  with  ice,  therefore  was  hardly  distinguish 
able  from  the  floating  masses  around ;  the  engines 
were  stopped  and  reversed,  but  there  was  neither 
time  nor  room  to  avoid  the  reef,  which  now  ex 
tended  on  each  side  of  us,  and  upon  which  the 
ship's  bow  stuck  fast  whilst  her  stern  remained  in 
36  feet  water ;  the  tide  had  just  commenced  to 
fall,  and  all  our  efforts  to  haul  off  from  the  rocks 
were  ineffectual.  The  floes  lay  within  30  yards 
of  us  upon  each  side.  I  feared  their  drifting 
down  upon  the  ship  and  turning  her  over;  but 


JUNE,  1358.      THE    'FOX'    NEARLY  WRECKED.  117 

fortunately  it  was  perfectly  calm,  and  as  the  tide 
fell,  points  of  the  reef  held  them  fast.  The  ship 
continued  to  fall  over  to  starboard ;  at  dead  low 
water  her  inclination  was  35° ;  the  water  covered 
the  starboard  gunwale  from  the  mainmast  aft,  and 
reached  almost  up  to  the  after  hatchway ;  at  this 
time  the  slightest  shake  must  have  caused  her  to 
fall  over  upon  her  side,  when  she  would  have  in 
stantly  filled  and  sunk.  The  dogs,  after  repeated 
ineffectual  attempts  to  lie  upon  the  deck,  quietly 
coiled  themselves  up  upon  such  parts  of  the  lee 
gunwale  as  remained  above  water  and  went  to 
sleep. 

To  me  the  moments  seemed  lengthened  out 
beyond  anything  I  could  have  imagined ;  but  at 
length  the  water  began  to  rise,  and  the  ship 
to  resume  her  upright  position.  Boats,  anchors, 
hawsers,  etc.,  were  got  on  board  again  with  the 
utmost  alacrity,  and  the  ship  floated  off  unhurt 
after  having  been  eleven  hours  upon  the  reef. 
We  had  grounded  during  the  day  tide  and  were 
floated  off  by  the  night  tide,  which  upon  this 
coast  occasions  a  much  greater  rise  and  fall,  —  so 
far  we  were  favored,  but  the  poor  little  (  Fox ' 
had  a  very  narrow  escape ;  as  for  ourselves,  there 
was  not  the  slightest  cause  for  apprehension, 
three  steam  whalers  being  within  signal  distance. 

To-day  we  are  steaming  along  after  the  three 
vessels  which  passed  us  last  evening  and  disap 
peared  round  Cape  Shackleton  during  the  night. 


118  AFLOAT,  AND  PUSH  AHEAD.         CHAP.  VIII. 

The  contrast  between  our  prospects  yesterday 
and  to-day  fills  one  with  delight,  —  to  be  afloat 
and  advancing  unobstructedly  once  more  is  in 
deed  charming. 

ll/7i.  —  On  the  afternoon  of  the  8th  we  joined 
the  steamers  '  Tay,'  Captain  Deuchars ;  '  Chase/ 
Captain  Cravill,  sen. ;  and  '  Diana,'  Gravill,  jun. 
After  repeated  ice-detentions,  we  have  reached 
Duck  Island.  Captain  Deuchars  says  there  is 
every  prospect  of  an  early  north  passage  ;  we 
have  had  several  conversations  about  the  Pond's 
Bay  natives,  and  their  reports  of  ships,  wrecks, 
and  Europeans.  There  appears  to  be  not  only 
great  difficulty,  but  also  uncertainty,  in  arriving 
at  their  meaning ;  to  form  an  idea  of  the  time 
elapsed  since  an  event,  or  the  distance  to  the 
spot  where  it  occurred,  is  a  still  harder  task.  I 
look  forward  to  our  visit  at  Pond's  Bay  with 
greatly  increased  interest. 

In  August,  1855,  when  Captain  Deuchars  was 
crossing  through  the  middle  ice,  in  latitude  70°, 
he  found  part  of  a  steamer's  topmast  embedded 
in  heavy  ice ;  he  also  saw  the  moulded  form  of  a 
ship's  side,  and  thinks  the  latter  must  have  sunk ; 
the  portion  of  the  topmast  visible  was  sawed  off 
and  taken  to  England.  It  is  most  probable  that 
the  vessel  was  either  H.M.S.  '  Intrepid  '  or  '  Pio 
neer,'  as  two  months  later,  and  250  miles  further 
south,  the  '  Resolute'  was  picked  up.  About  two 
or  three  years  ago,  Captain  Deuchars  lost  his 


JUNE,  1858.      ARCTIC  HAIRBREADTH  ESCAPES.  119 

ship  '  Princess  Charlotte/  in  Melville  Bay.  It 
was  a  beautiful  morning ;  they  had  almost  reached 
the  North  Water,  and  were  anticipating  a  very 
successful  voyage  ;  the  steward  had  just  reported 
breakfast  ready,  when  Captain  Deuchars,  seeing 
the  floes  closing  together  ahead  of  the  ship,  re 
mained  on  deck  to  see  her  pass  safely  between 
them,  but  they  closed  too  quickly ;  the  vessel 
was  almost  through,  when  the  points  of  ice  caught 
her  sides  abreast  of  the  mizenmast,  and,  passing 
through,  held  the  wreck  up  for  a  few  minutes, 
barely  long  enough  for  the  crew  to  escape  and 
save  their  boats !  Poor  Deuchars  thus  suddenly 
lost  his  breakfast  and  his  ship  ;  within  ten  minutes 
her  royal  yards  disappeared  beneath  the  surface. 
How  closely  danger  besets  the  Arctic  cruiser,  yet 
how  insidiously  ;  everything  looks  so  bright,  so 
calm,  so  still,  that  it  requires  positive  experience 
to  convince  one  that  ice  only  a  very  few  inches, 
perhaps  only  three  or  four  inches,  above  ivater,  per 
fectly  level,  and  moving  extremely  slow,  could 
possibly  endanger  a  strong  vessel !  The  '  Prin 
cess  Charlotte  '  was  a  very  fine,  strong  ship,  and 
her  captain  one  of  the  most  experienced  Arctic 
seamen.  He  now  commands  the  finest  whaler  in 
the  fleet, 

14/A.  —  We  have  only  advanced  a  few  miles  to 
the  northward.  The  steamer  '  Innuit '  has  joined 
our  small  steam  squadron.  Captain  Sutter  left 
Scotland  only  a  month  ago  :  he  has  very  kindly 


120  SUPPLY  OF  PROVISIONS.  CHAP.  VIII 

and  promptly  sent  us  a  present  of  newspapers 
and  potatoes.  Captain  Deuchars  has  also  been 
good  enough  to  supply  us  with  some  potatoes 
and  porter,  perhaps  the  most  serviceable  present 
he  could  have  made  us  after  our  long  subsistence 
upon  salt  and  preserved  meats. 

Wth.  —  Once  more  alone  in  Melville  Bay. 
The  '  Innuit '  and  '  Chase '  steamed  much  too 
fast  for  us,  and  the  last  of  the  four  vessels,  the 
4  Tay,'  parted  from  us  in  a  thick  fog  yesterday. 
We  have  come  close  along  the  edge  of  the  fixed 
ice,  passing  about  six  miles  outside  of  the  Sabine 
Islands,  and  are  advancing  as  opportunities  offer. 
This  morning  the  man  who  was  stationed  to 
watch  a  nip  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  ahead  of 
the  ship,  came  running  back,  pursued  by  three 
bears  —  a  mother  with  her  half-grown  cubs.  I 
suppose  they  followed  him  chiefly  because  he  ran 
from  them ;  and  at  all  events  they  were  very 
close  up  before  he  reached  the  ship.  Another 
bear  was  seen  about  the  same  time,  but  none  of 
them  came  within  shot.  Eotchies  (or  little  auks) 
are  very  abundant.  Seals  are  occasionally  shot 
I  ate  some  boiled  seal  to-day,  and  found  it  good  : 
this  is  the  first  time  I  have  eaten  positive  blubber  ; 
all  scruples  respecting  it  henceforth  vanish. 

25/7*. — The  land-ice  broke  away  inshore  of  the 
'Fox'  on  the  19th  or  20th,  and  we  found  our 
selves  drifting  southward  amongst  extensive  fields 
of  ice.  Sad  experience  has  already  shown  us  how 


JUNE,  1858.       NEARLY  CAUGHT  IN  THE  PACK.  121 

absolutely  powerless  our  small  craft  is  under  such 
circumstances.  But  after  many  attempts  we  re 
gained  the  edge  of  the  fast  ice  this  morning,  and 
steamed  merrily  along  it  towards  Bushnan  Island. 
When  within  a  few  miles  a  nip  brought  us  to  a 
standstill:  here  five  or  six  icebergs  lie  encom 
passed  by  land-ice,  and  apparently  aground  ;  one 
of  them  juts  out  and  has  caught  the  point  of  an 
immense  field  of  ice.  There  is  some  slight  move 
ment  in  the  latter,  but  not  enough  to  let  us  pass 
through. 

Twelve  or  eighteen  miles  to  the  south  there 
is  a  cluster  of  bergs,  in  all  probability  aground 
upon  our  "  70  fathom  bank "  of  last  September. 
The  ice-field  appears  to  rest  against  them,  as  both 
to  the  east  and  west  there  is  much  clear  water. 
Exactly  at  this  spot  Captain  Penny  was  similarly 
detained  by  a  nip  in  August,  1850.  Although 
progress  is  denied  to  us  at  present,  yet  it  is  an  un 
speakable  relief  to  have  got  out  of  the  drifting 
ice. 

I  have  passed  very  many  anxious  days  in  Mel 
ville  Bay,  but  hardly  any  of  them  weighed  so 
heavily  upon  me  as  yesterday.  There  was  the 
broad,  clear  land-water  within  a  third  of  a  mile  of 
me,  clear  weather,  and  a  fair  breeze  blowing. 
The  intervening  nip  worked  sufficiently  with 
wind  and  tide  to  keep  one  in  suspense ;  it  nearly 
opened  at  high  water,  but  closed  again  with  the 
ebb  tide.  I  thought  of  the  week  already  spent 


122  ARCTIC  PERPLEXITIES.  CHAP.  VIII 

in  struggling  amongst  drifting  floes,  and  was 
haunted  by  visions  of  everything  horrible — gales, 
ice-crushing,  etc.  Nor  was  it  consoling  to  reflect 
that  all  the  sailing  ships  as  well  as  the  steamers 
might  have  actually  slipped  past  us.  In  fact,  I 
must  acknowledge  that  anxiety  and  weariness 
had  worked  me  up  into  a  state  of  burning  impa 
tience  and  of  bitter  chagrin  at  being  so  repeat 
edly  baffled  in  all  my  efforts  by  the  varying  yet 
continual  perplexities  of  our  position.  The  only 
difference  in  favor  of  our  prospects  over  those  of 
the  past  year  consisted  in  our  having  arrived  here 
two  months  earlier ;  but  the  importance  of  this 
difference  is  incalculable. 

The  opportunities  afforded  by  the  delays  to 
which  we  have  been  subjected  were  turned,  how 
ever,  to  some  account.  Nearly  one  thousand 
rotchies  were  shot ;  they  are  excellent  eating ; 
their  average  weight  is  four  ounces  and  a  half, 
but  when  prepared  for  the  table  they  probably 
do  not  yield  more  than  three  ounces  each.  A 
young  bear  imprudently  swam  up  to  the  ship,  and 
was  shot, — his  skin  fell  to  the  sportsman,  and  car 
case  to  the  dogs.  Several  others  have  been  seen: 
we  watched  one  fellow  surprise  a  seal  upon  the 
ice,  and  carry  it  about  in  his  mouth  as  a  cat  does 
a  mouse. 

27/^. — Lying  fast  to  the  ice  off  the  Crimson 
Cliffs  of  Sir  John  Ross.  Yesterday  we  succeed 
ed  in  passing  through  the  nip,  and  by  evening 


JUNE,  1858.  THE  ARCTIC  HIGHLANDERS.  123 

reached  Cape  York.  Seeing  natives  running  out 
upon  the  land-ice,  the  ship  was  made  fast  for  an 
hour  in  order  to  communicate  with  them.  A 
party  of  eight  men  came  on  board :  they  imme 
diately  recognised  Petersen,  for  they  lived  at  Etah 
in  Smith's  Sound  when  he  was  there  in  the  Amer 
ican  expedition.  They  asked  for  Dr.  Kane,  and 
told  us  Hans  was  married  and  living  in  Whale 
Sound.  They  all  said  he  was  most  anxious  to  re 
turn  to  Greenland,  but  had  neither  sledge-dogs 
nor  kayak;  hunger  had  compelled  him  to  eat  the 
sealskin  which  covered  the  framework  of  the  lat 
ter.  Petersen  gave  them  messages  for  Hans  from 
his  Greenland  friends,  and  advice  that  he  should 
fix  his  residence  here,  where  he  might  see  the 
whalers  and  perhaps  be  taken  back  to  Greenland. 
The  natives  did  not  seem  to  be  badly  off  for  any 
thing  except  dogs,  some  distemper  having  carried 
off  most  of  these  indispensable  animals.  I  was 
therefore  unable  to  procure  any  from  them. 
These  people  spent  the  winter  here ;  they  seemed 
healthy,  well-clad,  and  happy  little  fellows.  One 
of  them  is  brother-in-law  to  Erasmus  York,  who 
voluntarily  came  to  England  in  the  'Assistance* 
in  1851.  This  man  is  an  angelcolt,  or  magician; 
he  has  a  still  flatter  face  than  the  rest  of  his 
countrymen,  but  appears  more  thoughtful  ar.d 
intelligent. 

Petersen  pointed  out  to  me  a  stout  old  fellow, 
with  a  tolerable  sprinkling  of  beard  and  mous- 


124  THE  ARCTIC  HIGHLANDERS.         CHAP.  VID. 

tache.  This  worthy  perpetrated  the  only  murder 
which  has  taken  place  for  several  years  in  the 
tribe :  he  disliked  his  victim  and  stood  in  need  of 
his  dogs,  therefore  he  killed  the  owner  and  appro 
priated  his  property !  Such  motives  and  passions 
usually  govern  the  "  unsophisticated  children  of 
nature ;"  yet,  as  savages,  the  Esquimaux  may  be 
considered  exceedingly  harmless. 

Of  late  years  these  Arctic  Highlanders  have  be 
come  alarmed  by  the  rapid  diminution  of  their 
numbers  through  famine  and  disease,  and  have 
been  less  violent  towards  each  other  in  their  feuds 
and  quarrels. 

The  appearance  of  these  men,  as  they  danced 
and  rolled  about  in  frantic  delight  at  our  ap 
proach,  was  wild  and  strange,  and  their  costume 
uniform  and  picturesque.  Their  long,  coarse, 
black  hair  hung  loosely  over  the  seal-skin  frock 
which  in  its  turn  overlapped  their  loose  shaggj 
bear-skin  breeches,  and  these  again  came  down 
over  the  tops  of  their  seal-skin  boots.  Most  o1 
them  carried  a  spear  formed  out  of  the  horn  of  a 
narwhal. 

Having  distributed  presents  of  knives  and 
needles,  and  explained  to  them  that  we  did  so  be 
cause  they  had  behaved  well  to  the  white  peo 
ple,  (as  we  learned  from  Dr.  Kane's  narrative  of 
their  treatment  of  him  and  his  crew),  we  pursued 
our  voyage,  not  doubting  but  that  we  should  soon 
reach  the  North  Water,  an  extensive  sea  through 


JULY,  1858.  DAMAGE  FROM  ICE.  125 

which  we  could  sail  uninterruptedly  to  Pond's 
Bay. 

During  the  night  we  advanced  through  loose 
ice  ;  but  fog  and  a  rising  S.E.  gale  delayed  us,  and 
to-day  the  pack  has  pressed  in  against  the  land,  so 
that  our  wings  are  most  unexpectedly  clipped.  A 
walrus  was  shot  through  the  head  by  a  Minie  bul 
let;  none  other  will  penetrate  such  a  massive 
skull :  unfortunately  for  my  collection  of  speci 
mens,  and  for  the  dogs,  the  animal  sank. 

ZdJuly.  —  For  five  days  we  have  been  almost 
beset  amongst  loose  ice  and  grounded  bergs ;  the 
winds  were  generally  from  the  S.E.  and  accom 
panied  by  fog.  To  avoid  being  squeezed  we  had 
constantly  to  shift  our  position ;  once  we  were 
caught  and  rather  severely  nipped ;  the  ship  was 
heeled  over  about  ten  degrees  and  lifted  a  couple 
of  feet:  the  ice  was  three  feet  thick,  but  broke 
readily  under  her  weight.  Unfortunately  there 
was  not  time  to  unship  the  rudder,  so  it  suffered 
very  severely.  Upon  a  previous  occasion  the 
screw-shaft  was  bent  and  a  portion  of  the  screw 
broken  off!  • 

Landed  to  obtain  a  good  view  of  the  sea  in 
the  offing ;  from  the  hills  we  could  see  nothing 
but  pack  to  seaward.  There  was  no  land  ice  ; 
we  stepped  out  of  the  boat  upon  a  narrow  icefoot 
which  fringed  the  coast ;  immediately  above  it 
we  trod  over  a  velvet  sward  of  soft  bright  green 
moss;  the  turf  beneath  was  of  considerable  depth. 
11* 


126  ROTCHIES  AND  GULLS.  CHAP.  VIIL 

Here  and  there  under  this  noble  range  of  cliffs, 
which  are  composed  of  primary  rock,  there  exists 
much  vegetation  for  so  high  a  latitude.  From  the 
fact  of  thick  layers  of  turf  descending  quite  down 
to  the  sea,  it  is  evident  that  the  land  has  been 
gradually  sinking.  Steep  slopes  of  rocky  debris, 
which  screen  the  bases  of  the  most  precipitous 
cliffs,  form  secure  nurseries  for  the  little  auk ; 
these  localities  were  literally  alive  with  them ; 
they  popped  in  and  out  of  every  crevice,  or  sat 
in  groups  of  dozens  upon  every  large  rock.  I 
have  nowhere  seen  such  countless  myriads  of 
birds.  The  rolc/iie,  or  little  auk,  lays  its  single  egg 
upon  the  bare  rock,  far  within  a  crevice  beyond 
the  reach  of  fox,  owl,  or  burgomaster  gull.  We 
shot  a  couple  of  hundred  during  our  short  stay  on 
shore,  and,  by  removing  the  stones,  gathered  sev 
eral  dozen  of  their  eggs. 

The  huge  predatory  gulls,  long  ago  named 
"Burgomasters"  by  Dutch  seamen  (because  they 
lord  it  over  their  neighbors,  and  appropriate  every 
thing  good  to  themselves),  have  established  them 
selves  in  the  cliffs,  where  their  nests  are  gener 
ally  inaccessible :  we  were  a  month  too  late  for 
their  eggs;  the  young  birds  were  as  large  as 
spring  chickens.  Of  course  we  obtained  speci 
mens  of  the  red  snow,  but  had  to  seek  rather  dili 
gently  for  it;  its  color  was  a  dirty  red,  very  like 
the  stain  of  port  wine :  very  few  patches  of  it 
were  found. 


JULY,  1858.  FREE  FROM  THE  ICE.  127 

Last  night  a  westerly  wind  blew  freshly  and 
dispersed  the  ice  outside  of  us,  so  much  so  that 
this  evening  we  have  got  out  into  almost  clear 
water.  Farewell  Greenland  !  —  hurrah  for  the 
west ! 

5/A.  —  After  getting  free  from  the  ice  off  the 
Crimson  Cliffs,  we  soon  lost  sight  of  the  last  frag 
ment,  and  steered  for  Pond's  Bay.  And  now  we 
all  set  to  work  in  zealous  haste  to  write  our  last 
letters  for  England,  by  the  whalers,  which  we 
hoped  soon  to  meet  there. 

After  running  60  miles  the  ice  re-appeared,  and 
we  sailed  through  a  vast  deal  of  it,  but  it  became 
more  closely  packed,  and  a  thick  fog  detained  us 
for  a  day. 

When  the  weather  became  clear,  the  main 
pack  was  seen  to  the  W.,  S.,  and  S.E. ;  in  the  hope 
of  rounding  its  northern  extreme  we  ran  along  it 
to  the  N.W.  To-day  it  has  led  us  to  the  N.  and 
N.E.,  so  that  this  evening  Wolstenholme  Sound  is 
in  sight.  To  the  N.  the  pack  appears  impenetra 
ble,  and  there  is  a  strong  ice-blink  over  it.  All 
the  ice  we  have  lately  sailed  through  is  loose,  and 
much  decayed;  it  seems  but  recently  to  have 
broken  away  from  the  land,  is  not  water-washed, 
neither  has  it  been  exposed  to  a  swell,  the  frac 
tured  edges  remaining  sharp. 

Qth.  —  Midnight.  Last  evening  I  persevered  to 
the  N.  until  every  hope  of  progress  in  that  direc 
tion  vanished.  To  the  W.  the  pack  appeared  tol- 


128  ICE  CLOSING  AGAIN.  CHAP.  VIIL 

erably  loose ;  the  wind  was  fresh  at  E.S.E.,  so  I 
determined  once  more  to  push  into  it,  and  en 
deavor  to  battle  our  way  through;  I  hoped  it 
would  prove  to  be  merely  a  belt  of  30  or  40  miles 
in  width.  We  found  the  ice  to  lie  for  the  most 
part  in  streams  at  right  angles  to  the  wind,  and 
therefore  much  more  open  than  it  had  appeared : 
there  was  seldom  any  difficulty  in  winding  through 
it  from  one  water  space  to  another.  The  wind 
greatly  increased,  bringing  much  rain,  but  for 
tunately  no  fog; —  the  dread  of  this  hung  over 
me  like  a  nightmare, —  our  progress  depended 
upon  the  vigilance  of  the  look-out  kept  in  the 
crow's-nest.  By  noon  we  had  made  good  60 
miles.  Throughout  the  day  the  wind  has  gradu 
ally  moderated :  the  rain  gave  place  to  snow, 
which  in  its  turn  was  succeeded  by  mist.  The 
evening  was  fine  eventually  and  clear ;  but  still 
we  find  the  ice  is  all  around.  Just  before  mid 
night  the  termination  of  our  lead  was  discovered, 
whilst  the  ice  through  which  we  had  passed  was 
closing  together,  and  a  dense  fog  came  rolling 
down.  Under  these  circumstances  the  ship  was 
made  fast  as  near  to  the  nip  as  safety  permitted, 
to  await  some  favorable  change. 

Wlh.  —  All  the  7th  we  remained  in  our  small 
basin,  there  being  no  outlet  from  it,  and  but  little 
water  anywhere  visible.  To  pass  away  the  dull 
hours  and  get  rid  of  unwelcome  reflections  upon 
the  similarity  of  our  present  position  and  that  in 


JULY,  1858.    STRUGGLING  TO  THE  WESTWARD.  129 

August^  last,  I  commenced  an  attack  upon  all  the 
feathered  denizens  of  the  pack — they  seemed  so 
provokingly  contented  with  it  —  but  they  soon 
became  wary,  and  deserted  our  vicinity,  so  I  shot 
only  a  dozen  fulmar  petrels,  three  ivory  gulls,  two 
looms,*  and  a  Lesttis  parasiticus ;  some  of  them 
were  useful  as  specimens,  and  such  as  were  not 
destined  for  our  table  were  given  to  the  dogs. 
Although  Cobourg  Island  was  45  miles  distant 
from  us,  its  lofty  rounded  outlines  were  very 
distinct,  and  much  covered  with  snow.  On  the 
8th  we  squeezed  through  nips  for  4  or  5  miles, 
and  on  the  9th,  reaching  a  large  space  of  water, 
steamed  towards  Cobourg  Island  until  again 
stopped  by  the  pack  at  an  early  hour  this  morn 
ing,  when  within  5  or  6  leagues  of  it. 

This  evening  we  are  endeavoring  to  steam  in 
towards  the  West-land,  and  fancy  we  can  trace 
with  the  crow's-nest  telescope  a  practicable  route 
through  the  intervening  ice-mazes  to  a  faint  streak 
of  water  along  the  shore.  This  sort  of  navigation 
is  not  only  anxious,  but  wearying.  To  me  it 
seems  as  if  several  months  instead  of  only  eight 
days  had  elapsed  since  we  left  Cape  York.  We 
are  constantly  wondering  what  our  whaling  friends 
are  about,  and  where  they  are  ? 

14/7*. —  The  faint  streak  of  water  seen  on  the 
night  of  the  10th  proved  to  be  an  extensive  sheet 

*  These  birds  are  called  willocks  at  home ;  they  are  the  "  Uria  Brunni- 
chii "  of  naturalists. 

I 


130  VISIT  OF  NATIVES.  CHAP.  VIIL 

to  leeward  of  Cobourg  Island.  We  reached  it 
next  morning.  Jones'  Sound  appeared  open,  and 
a  slight  swell  reached  us  from  it,  but  all  along  the 
shore  there  was  close  pack.  Although  but  little 
water  was  visible  to  the  southward,  we  persevered 
in  that  direction,  and,  as  the  ice  was  rapidly  mov 
ing  offshore  under  the  combined  influence  of  wind 
and  tide,  we  were  only  occasionally  detained. 

Two  hundred  and  forty-two  years  ago  —  to  a 
day,  I  believe  — William  Baffin  sailed  without 
hindrance  along  this  coast  and  discovered  Lancas 
ter  Sound.  What  a  very  different  season  he  must 
have  experienced ! 

Passing  near  Cape  Horsburgh  we  approached 
De  Ros  Islet  at  midnight.  The  air  being  very 
calm,  and  still,  the  shouting  of  some  natives  was 
heard,  although  we  could  scarcely  distinguish  them 
upon  the  land-ice.  The  ship  was  made  fast,  and 
the  shouting  party,  consisting  of  three  men,  three 
women,  and  two  children,  eagerly  came  on  board. 
Only  four  individuals  remained  on  shore. 

The  old  chief  Kal-lek  is  remarkable  amongst 
Esquimaux  for  having  a  bald  head.  He  inquired 
by  name  for  his  friend  Captain  Inglefield.  These 
three  families  have  spent  the  last  two  years  upon 
this  coast,  between  Cape  Ilorsburgh  and  Croker 
Bay.  Their  knowledge  does  not  extend  further 
in  either  direction.  They  are  natives  of  more 
southern  lands,  and  crossed  the  ice  in  Lancaster 
Sound  with  dog-sledges.  Since  the  visit  of  the 


JULY.  1858.  OFF  LANCASTER  SOUND.  131 

' Phoenix'  in  '54  .they  have  seen  no  ships,  nor 
have  any  wrecks  drifted  upon  their  shores.  They 
seemed  very  flit  and  healthy,  but  complained  that 
all  the  reindeer  had  gone  away,  and  asked  if  we 
could  tell  where  they  went  to  ?  Our  presents  of 
wood,  knives,  and  needles  were  eagerly  received. 
They  assured  us  that  Lancaster  Sound  was  still 
frozen  over,  and  that  all  the  sea  was  covered  with 
pack.  After  half  an  hour's  delay  we  steamed  on 
ward,  and  on  reaching  a  larger  space  of  water  our 
hopes  (somewhat  depressed  by  the  native  intel 
ligence)  began  to  revive.  But  we  soon  found  that 
our  clear  water  terminated  near  Cape  Warrender. 
Lancaster  Sound,  although  not  frozen  over,  wap 
crammed  full  of  floes  and  icebergs.  The  wind  in 
creased  to  a  strong  gale  from  the  east,  and  pressed 
in 'more  ice.  At  length  the  ship  was  with  difficulty 
made  fast  to  a  strip  of  land-ice  a  few  miles  west- 
ward  of  Point  Osborn.  Gradually  the  gale  sub 
sided,  but  not  until  the  pack  was  close  in  against 
the  land.  The  tides  kept  sweeping  it  to  and  fro, 
to  our  great  discomfort.  The  land  ,is  composed  of 
gneiss,  and  the  gravelly  shore  is  low.  A  few  ducks 
only  have  been  shot,  and  traces  of  reindeer  and 
hares  seen.  Our  Melville  Bay  friends,  the  rotchies, 
are  very  rare  visitors  upon  this  side  of  Baffin's 
Bay. 

Part  of  a  ship's  timber  has  been  found  upon  the 
beach ;  it  measures  7  inches  by  8  inches,  is  of 
American  oak,  and,  although  sound,  has  long  been 

ovnrkcoM    fr»    fno    vtmo  f  nor1 


132  OFF  CAPE  WARRENDER.  CIIAI-.  IX. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

Off  Capo  Warrendcr  —  Sight  the  whalers  again  —  Enter  Pond's  Bay  — 
Communicate  with  Esquimaux  —  Ascend  Pond's  Inlet  —  Esquimaux 
information  —  Arctic  summer  abode-— An  Arctic  village  —  No  inte.- 
ligencc  of  Franklin's  ships  —  Arctic  trading  —  Geographical  infor 
mation  of  natives  —  Information  of  Rae's  visit  —  Improvidence  of 
Esquimaux  —  Travels  of  Esquimaux. 

16//2  July. --To  borrow  a  whaling  phrase,  we  are 
"  dodging  about  in  a  hole  of  water  "  off  Cape  War- 
render.  I  recognize  the  little  bay  just  to  the 
west  of  the  cape  where  Parry  landed  in  Septem 
ber,  1824.  The  "  immense  mass  of  snow  and  ice 
containing  strata  of  muddy-looking  soil "  is  there 
still,  and,  I  should  think,  had  considerably  in 
creased.  Here  his  party  shot  three  reindeer  out 
of  a  small  herd.  We  have  narrowly  scanned  the 
steep  hill-sides  with  our  glasses,  but  without  dis 
covering  any  such  inducement  to  land. 

No  cairns  are  visible  upon  Cape  Warrender; 
the  natives  have  probably  removed  them.  Dense 
pack  prevents  us  from  approaching  Port  Dundas 
or  crossing  to  the  southern  shore.  We  all  find 
these  vexatious  delays  are  by  no  means  condu 
cive  to  sleep.  The  mind  is  busy  with  a  sort  of 
magic-lantern  representation  of  the  past,  the  pres- 


JULY,  1858.  THE  WHALERS  AGAIN.  133 

ent,  and  the  future,  and  resists  for  weary  hours 
the  necessary  repose. 

Yjth.  —  Last  night's  calm  has  allowed  the  pack 
to  expand  so  much,  that  to-day  we  have  steamed 
through  it  until  within  three  miles  of  the  noble 
cliffs  of  Cape  Hay ;  and  now  we  are  drifting  east 
ward  with  the  ice  precisely  as  did  the  '  En 
terprise  '  and  '  Investigator,'  in  September,  '49. 
Upon  that  occasion  we  were  set  free  off  Pond's 
Bay.  There  is  a  very  extensive  loomery  at  Cape 
Hay ;  we  regret  the  circumstances  which  prevent 
our  levying  a  tax  upon  it.  Here,  if  anywhere,  I 
expected  to  find  a  clear  sea,  but  east  winds  have 
prevailed  for  twenty  days  out  of  the  last  twenty- 
five,  and  this  accounts  for  the  present  state  of  the 
sea ;  the  next  succession  of  west  winds  will  prob 
ably  effect  a  prodigious  clearance  of  ice. 

21st.  — The  '  Tay  '  was  seen  to-day  in  loose  ice, 
and  much  further  off  the  land.  She  gradually 
steamed  through  it  to  the  southward,  and  by 
night  was  almost  out  of  sight.  Her  appearance 
surprised  us,  as  we  supposed  she  must  have 
reached  Pond's  Bay  long  ago.  Ten  hours'  strug 
gling  with  steam  and  sails  at  the  most  favorable 
intervals  has  only  advanced  us  five  miles.  The 
weather  is  remarkably  warm,  bright,  and  pleas 
ant.  A  very  large  bear  came  within  150  yards, 
and  was  shot  by  Petersen,  the  Minie  bullet  pass 
ing  through  his  body.  This  beast  measured 
8  ft.  3  in.  in  length ;  his  fat  carcase  was  hoisted 
12 


134  OFF  CAPE  WALTEK  BATHURST.        CHAP.  IX. 

on  board  with  great  satisfaction,  as  our  dogs'  food 
was  nearly  expended. 

24/4  —  Last  night  the  ice  became  slack  enough 
to  afford  some  prospect  of  release,  so  we  charged 
the  nips  vigorously,  and  steamed  away  through 
devious  openings  towards  Cape  Fanshawe.  For 
several  hours  but  little  progress  was  made,  but 
this  morning  the  ice  became  more  open  ;  clear 
water  was  seen  ahead,  and  reached  by  noon.  Al 
though  it  is  calm  I  prefer  waiting  for  a  breeze  to 
expending  more  coals.  We  are  only  ten  miles 
from  Possession  Bay.  The  air  is  so  very  clear 
that  the  land  appears  quite  close  to  us.  All 
that  is  not  mountainous  is  well  cleared  of  snow. 
There  is  immense  refraction.  Only  a  single  ice 
berg  in  sight.  The  sea.-water  is  light  green,  as 
remarked  by  Parry  in  1819. 

26//J.  —  A  vessel  was  seen  yesterday  morning ; 
the  day  continuing  calm,  we  steamed  through 
some  loose  ice,  and  joined  her  off  Cape  Walter 
Bathurst  in  the  evening.  It  proved  to  be  the 
'Diana; '  she  parted  from  us  on  the  16th  of  June 
in  Melville  Bay,  has  everywhere  been  obstructed 
by  the  pack,  as  we  have  been,  and  only  reached 
Cape  Warrender  three  days  before  us.  From 
thence  to  Possession  Bay  she  met  with  no  obstruc 
tion.  The  subsequent  east  wrinds  brought  in  all 
the  ice  which  has  so  much  retarded  us. 

The  c  Diana '  has  already  captured  twelve 
whales.  Taking  the  hint  from  Capt.  Gravill, 


JULY,  1858.  ENTER  POND'S  BAY.  135 

we  have  made  fast  to  a  loose  floe,  and  are  drift 
ing  very  nearly  a  mile  an  hour  to  the  south 
ward  along  the  edge  of  a  very  formidable  land- 
ice,  which  is  seven  or  eight  miles  broad.  All 
to  seaward  of  us  is  packed  ice.  The  old  whaling 
seamen  of  the  '  Diana '  are  astonished  at  the  unu 
sual  and  unaccountable  abundance  of  ice  which 
everywhere  fills  up  Baffin's  Bay.  All  the  '  Dia 
na's  '  steaming  coals,  her  spare  spars,  wood  and 
even  a  boat,  have  been  burnt  in  the  protracted 
struggle  through  the  middle  ice. 

27th.  —  After  putting  our  letter-bag  on  board 
the  ' Diana'  this  morning  we  steamed  on  for 
Pond's  Bay,  and  at  noon  made  fast  near  But 
ton  Point  to  the  land-ice,  which  still  extends 
across  it. 

For  four  hours  Petersen  and  I  have  been  bar 
gaining  with  an  old  woman  and  a  boy,  not  for  the 
sake  of  their  seal-skins,  but  in  order  to  keep  them 
in  good  humor  whilst  we  extracted  information 
from  them.  They  said  they  knew  nothing  of 
ships  or  white  people  ever  having  been  within 
this  inlet,  nor  of  any  wrecked  ships.  They  knew 
of  the  depot  of  provisions  left  at  Navy  Board 
Inlet  by  the  '  North  Star,'  but  had  none  of  them. 
The  woman  has  traced  on  paper  the  shores  of 
the  inlet  as  far  as  her  knowledge  extends,  and  has 
given  me  the  name  of  every  point.  She  says  the 
ice  will  break  up  with  the  first  fresh  wind.  These 
two  individuals  are  alone  here.  They  remained 


136  COMMUNICATE  WITH  ESQUIMAUX.     CHAP.  IX 

on  purpose  to  barter  with  the  whalers,  and  can 
not  now  rejoin  their  friends,  who  are  only  25 
miles  up  the  inlet,  because  the  ice  is  unsafe  to 
travel  over  and  the  land  precipitous  and  imprac 
ticable. 

This  afternoon  the  '  Tay '  stood  in  towards  us, 
and  Captain  Deuchars  kindly  sent  his  boat  on 
board  with  an  offer  to  take  charge  of  our  letters. 
The  '  Tay '  reached  this  coast  only  a  few  days  ago, 
having  met  with  the  same  difficulties  which  we 
experienced.  The  '  Innuit '  was  last  seen  nearly 
a  month  ago  beset  off  Jones'  Sound.  The  re 
maining  steamer,  the  '  Chase/  has  not  been  seen 
or  heard  of. 

"2Wi.  —  The  old  woman's  denial  of  all  knowl 
edge  of  the  wrecks  or  cast-away  men  was  very 
unsatisfactory.  I  determined  to  visit  her  coun 
trymen  at  their  summer  village  of  Kaparoktolik, 
which  she  described  as  being  only  a  short  day's 
journey  up  the  inlet. 

Petersen  and  one  man  accompanied  me.  We 
started  yesterday  morning  with  a  sledge  and  a  Hal- 
kett  boat.  Although  the  ice  over  which  we  pur 
posed  travelling  broke  away  from  the  land  soon 
after  setting  out,  yet  we  managed  to  get  half  way 
to  the  village  before  encamping.  This  morning 
we  learnt  the  truth  of  the  old  woman's  account. 
A  range  of  precipitous  cliffs  rising  from  the  sea 
cut  us  off  by  land  from  Kaparoktolik,  so  we  were 
obliged  to  return  to  the  ship.  Our  walk  afforded 


JULY,  1858.  EXAMINE  NATIVE  CACHES.  137 

the  opportunity  of  examining  some  native  en 
campments  and  caches.  We  found  innumerable 
scraps  of  seal-skins,  bird-skins,  walrus  and  other 
bones,  whalebone,  blubber,  and  a  small  sledge. 
The  latter  was  very  old,  and  composed  of  pieces 
of  wood  and  of  large  bones  ingeniously  secured  to 
gether  with  strips  of  whalebone.  Five  preserved- 
rneat  tins  were  found ;  some  of  them  retaining 
their  original  coating  of  red  paint.  Doubtless 
these  were  part  of  the  spoils  from  Navy  Board 
Inlet  depot.  The  total  absence  of  fresh  wood  or 
iron  was  strongly  in  favor  of  the  old  woman's  ve 
racity.  Since  yesterday,  ice,  about  16  miles  in 
extent,  has  broken  up  in  the  inlet,  and  is  drifting 
out  into  Baffin's  Bay. 

During  my  absence  our  shooting  parties  have 
twice  visited  a  loomery  upon  Cape  Graham  Moore, 
and  each  time  have  brought  on  board  300  looms. 
Very  few  birds  and  no  other  animals  were  seen 
during  our  walk  over  the  rich  mossy  slopes  to-day. 
I  saw  a  pair  of  Canadian  brown  cranes,  the  first 
of  the  species  I  have  ever  seen  so  far  north, 
though  Sir  Robert  M'Clure  found  them,  I  know, 
on  Bank's  Land. 

The  lands  enjoying  a  southern  aspect,  even  to 
the  summits  of  hills  700  or  800  feet  in  height, 
were  tinged  with  green ;  but  these  hills  were  pro 
tected  by  a  still  loftier  range  to  the  north.  Upon 
many  well-sheltered  slopes  we  found  much  rich 
grass.  All  the  little  plants  were  in  full  flower ; 
12* 


138  ASCEND  POND'S  INLET.  CHAP.  IX. 

some  of  them  familiar  to  us  at  home,  such  as  the 
buttercup,  sorrel,  and  dandelion.  I  have  never 
found  the  latter  to  the  north  of  69°  before. 

The  old  woman  is  much  less  excited  to-day ; 
she  says  there  was  a  wreck  upon  the  coast  when 
she  was  a  little  girl ;  it  lies  a  day  and  a  half's 
journey,  about  45  miles,  to  the  north ;  and  came 
there  without  masts  and  very  much  crushed ;  the 
little  which  now  remains  is  almost  buried  in  the 
sand.  A  piece  of  this  wreck  was  found  near  her 
abode, — she  has  neither  hut  nor  tent,  but  a  sort  of 
lair  constructed  of  a  few  stones  and  a  seal-skin 
spread  over  them,  so  that  she  can  crawl  under 
neath.  This  fragment  is  part  of  a  floor  timber, 
English  oak,  7i  inches  thick ;  it  has  been  brought 
on  board. 

30//5.  —  A  gale  of  wind  and  deluge  of  rain  has 
detained  the  ship  until  this  evening ;  we  are  now 
steaming  up  the  inlet,  having  the  old  lady  and 
the  boy  on  board  as  our  pilots ;  they  are  delighted 
at  the  prospect  of  rejoining  their  friends,  from 
whom  they  were  effectually  cut  off  until  the  re 
turn  of  winter  should  freeze  a  safe  pathway  for 
them ;  they  had,  however,  abundance  of  looms 
stored  up  en  cache  for  their  subsistence.  She  has 
drawn  me  another  chart,  much  more  neatly  than 
the  former,  but  so  like  it  as  to  prove  that  her 
geographical  knowledge,  and  not  her  powers  of 
invention,  have  been  taxed.  She  is  a  widow ;  her 
daughter  is  married,  and  lives  at  a  place  called 


AUG.  1858.  ESQUIMAUX  INFORMATION.  130 

Igloolik,  which  is  six  or  seven  days'  journey  frona 
here, — three  days  up  the  inlet,  then  about  three 
days  overland  to  the  southward,  and  then  a  day 
over  the  ice. 

Thinking  it  not  quite  impossible  that  this  Ig- 
loolik  might  be  the  place  where  Parry  wintered 
in  1822-3, 1  told  Petersen  to  ask  whether  ships 
had  ever  been  there  ?  She  answered,  "Yes,  a  ship 
stopped  there  all  one  winter;  but  it  is  a  long  time 
ago."  All  she  could  distinctly  recollect  having 
been  told  about  it  was,  that  one  of  the  crew  died, 
and  was  buried  there,  arid  his  name  was  Al-lah 
or  El-leh.  On  referring  to  Parry's  6  Narrative,'  I 
found  that  the  ice-mate,  Mr.  Elder,  died  at  Igloo- 
lik !  This  is  a  very  remarkable  confirmation  of 
the  locality, — for  there  are  several  places  called 
Igloolik.  She  also  told  us  it  was  an  island,  and 
near  a  strait  between  two  seas.  The  Esquimaux 
take  considerable  pains  to  learn,  and  remember 
names ;  this  woman  knows  the  names  of  several 
of  the  whaling  captains,  and  the  old  chief  at  De 
Eos  Islet  remembered  Captain  Inglefield's  name, 
and  tried  hard  to  pronounce  mine. 

She  now  told  us  of  another  wreck  upon  the 
coast,  but  many  days'  journey  to  the  south  of 
Pond's  Bay ;  it  came  there  before  her  first  child 
was  born.  Her  age  is  not  less  than  forty-five. 

August  kth.  —  Our  Esquimaux  friends  have  de 
parted  from  us  with  every  demonstration  of  friend 
ship,  to  return  to  their  village.  We  have  had 


140  TOOLS  USV:D  BY  THE  ESQUIMAUX.    CHAP,  ix, 

free  communication  with  them  for  four  days — 
not  only  through  Mr.  Petersen,  but  also  through 
our  two  Greenlanders;  the  result  is,  that  they 
have  no  knowledge  whatever  of  either  of  the 
missing  or  the  abandoned  searching  ships.  Nei 
ther  wrecked  people  nor  wrecked  ships  have 
reached  their  shores.  They  seemed  to  be  much 
in  want  of  wood ;  most  of  what  they  have  con 
sists  of  staves  of  casks,  probably  from  the  Navy 
Board  Inlet  depot. 

In  their  bartering  with  us,  saws  were  most 
eagerly  sought  for  in  exchange  for  narwhal's 
horns ;  they  are  used  by  them  in  cutting  up  the 
long  strips  of  the  bones  of  whales  with  which 
they  shoe  the  runners  of  their  sledges,  also  the 
ivory  and  bone  used  to  protect  the  more  exposed 
parts  of  their  kayaks  and  the  edges  of  their  pad 
dles  from  the  ice. 

Files  were  also  in  great  demand,  and  I  found 
were  required  to  convert  pieces  of  iron-hoop  into 
'arrow  and  spear  heads.  If  any  suspicion  existed 
of  their  having  a  secret  supply  of  wood  such  as  a 
wreck  or  even  a  boat  would  afford,  it  was  removed 
by  their  refusing  to  barter  the  most  trifling  things 
for  axes  or  hatchets. 

But  I  must  relate  the  events  of  the  last  few 
days  as  they  occurred.  When  17  miles  within 
the  inlet  we  reached  the  unbroken  ice  and  made 
the  ship  fast.  Here  the  strait  —  originally  named 
Pond's  Bay,  and  more  recently  Eclipse  Sound — 


AUG.  1858.  ARCTIC  SUMMER  ABODES.  HJ 

appears  to  be  most  contracted,  its  width  not  ex 
ceeding  7  or  8  miles.  Both  its  shores  are  very 
bold  and  lofty,  often  forming  noble  precipices. 
The  prevailing  rock  is  grey  gneiss,  generally  dip 
ping  at  an  angle  of  35°  to  the  west. 

Early  on  the  1st  of  August  I  set  out  for  the  na 
tive  village  with  Hobson,  Petersen,  two  men,  and 
the  two  natives  from  Button  Point.  Eight  miles 
of  wet  and  weary  ice-travelling,  which  occupied 
as  many  hours,  terminated  our  journey ;  the  sur 
face  of  the  ice  was  everywhere  deeply  channelled 
and  abundantly  flooded  by  the  summer's  thaw ; 
we  were  almost  constanly  launching  our  small 
boat  over  the  slippery  ridges  which  separated 
pools  or  channellings  through  which  it  was  gener 
ally  necessary  to  wade. 

After  toiling  round  the  base  of  a  precipice,  we 
came  rather  suddenly  in  view  of  a  small  semicircu 
lar  bay ;  the  cliffs  on  either  side  were  800  or  900 
feet  high,  remarkably  forbidding  and  desolate;  the 
mouth  of  a  valley  or  wide  mountain  gorge  opens 
out  into  its  head.  Here,  in  the  depth  of  the  bay, 
upon  a  low  flat  strip  of  land,  stood  seven  tents,  — 
the  summer  village  of  Kaparok-to-lik.  I  never 
saw  a  locality  more  characteristic  of  the  Esqui 
maux  than  that  which  they  have  here  selected  for 
their  abode ;  it  is  widely  picturesque  in  the  true 
Arctic  application  of  the  term. 

Although  August  had  arrived,  and  the  summer 
had  been  a  warm  one,  the  bay  was  still  frozen 


142  AN  ARCTIC  VILLAGE.  CHAP.  IX. 

over ;  and  if  there  was  an  ice-covered  sea  in  front, 
there  was  also  abundance  of  ice-covered  land  in  the 
rear  —  a  glacier  occupied  the  whole  valley  behind 
and  to  within  300  yards  of  the  chosen  spot ! 

The  glacier's  height  appeared  to  be  from  150 
to  200  feet ;  its  sea-rface  extending  across  the 
valley,  —  a  probable  width  of  300  or  400  yards,— 
was  quite  perpendicular,  and  fully  100  feet  high. 
All  last  winter's  snow  had  thawed  away  from  off 
it  and  exposed  a  surface  of  mud  and  stones,  fis 
sured  by  innumerable  small  rivulets,  which  threw 
themselves  over  the  glacier  cliffs  in  pretty  cas 
cades,  or  shot  far  out  in  strong  jets  from  their 
deeply  serried  channels  in  its  face  ;  whilst  other 
streamlets  near  the  base  burst  out  through  sub- 
glacial  tunnels  of  their  own  forming. 

What  a  strange  people  to  confine  themselves  to 
such  a  mere  strip  of  beach !  Upon  each  side  they 
have  towering  rocky  hills  rising  so  abruptly  from 
the  sea,  that  to  pass  along  their  bases  or  ascend 
over  their  summits,  is  equally  impossible ;  whilst 
a  threatening  glacier  immediately  behind,  bears 
onward  a  sufficient  amount  of  rock  and  earth  from 
the  mountains  whence  it  issues,  to  convince  even 
the  unreflecting  savage  of  its  progressive  motion. 

The  land  is  devoid  of  game,  although  lemmings 
and  ermines  are  tolerably  numerous  ;  it  only  sup 
plies  the  moss  which  the  natives  burn  with  blub 
ber  in  their  lamps,  and  the  dry  grass  which  they 
put  in  their  boots  ;  even  the  soft  stone,  lapis  olio- 


r 


AUG.  1858.  AN  ARCTIC  VILLAGE.  143 

ris,  out  of  which  their  lamps  and  cooking  vessels 
are  made  and  the  iron  pyrites  with  which  they 
strike  fire,  are  obtained  by  barter  from  the  people 
inhabiting  the  land  to  the  west  of  Navy  Board 
Inlet.  But  the  sea  compensates  for  every  defi 
ciency.  The  assembled  population  amounted  to 
only  25  souls :  9  men,  the  rest  women  and  chil 
dren. 

All  of  them  evinced  extreme  delight  at  seeing 
us;  as  we  approached  the  huts  the  women  and 
children  held  up  their  arms  in  the  air  and  shout 
ed  "  Pilletay  "  (give  me),  incessantly;  the  men 
were  more  quiet  and  dignified,  yet  lost  no  oppor 
tunity,  either  when  we  declined  to  barter,  or.  when 
they  had  performed  any  little  service,  to  repeat 
"  Pilletay  "  in  a  beseeching  tone  of  voice. 

We  walked  everywhere  about  the  tents  and 
entered  some  of  them,  carefully  examining  every 
chip  or  piece  of  metal ;  our  visit  was  quite  unex 
pected.  They  had  only  two  sledges ;  both  were 
ma.de  of  2iinch  oak-planks,  devoid  of  bolt-holes 
or  treenails,  and  having  but  very  few  nail-holes. 
These  sledges  had  evidently  been  constructed  for 
several  years,  the  parts  not  exposed  to  friction 
were  covered  with  green  fungus :  one  of  them 
measured  14  feet  long,  the  other  about  9  feet ; 
we  were  told  the  wood  came  from  a  wreck  to  the 
southward  of  Pond's  Bay.  Most  of  the  sledge 
crossbars  were  ordinary  staves  of  casks.  Amongst 
the  poles  and  large  bones  which  supported 


144  NO  INTELLIGENCE  OF  FRANKLIN.       CHAP.  IX. 

tents  we  noticed  a  painted  fir  oar.  Some  pieces  of 
iron-hoop  and  a  few  preserved-meat  tins  —  one 
of  which  was  stamped  "  Goldner," — completed 
their  stock  of  European  articles. 

Petersen  questioned  all  the  men  separately  as  to 
their  knowledge  of  ships  or  wrecks  ;  but  their  ac 
counts  only  served  to  confirm  the  old  woman's 
story.  None  of  them  had  ever  heard  of  ships  or 
wrecks  anywhere  to  the  westward.  Both  individu 
ally  and  collectively  we  got  them  to  draw  charts 
of  the  various  coasts  known  to  them,  and  to  mark 
upon  them  the  positions  of  the  wrecks.  The  two 
chiefs,  Noo-luk  and  A-wah-lah,  soon  made  them 
selves  known  to  me,  and,  when  we  desired  to  go 
to  sleep,  sent  away  the  people  who  were  eagerly 
pressing  round  our  tent.  All  these  natives  were 
better-looking,  cleaner,  and  more  robust  than  I 
expected  to  find  them. 

A-wah-lah  has  been  to  Igloolik ;  one  of  his 
wives,  for  each  chief  has  two,  has  a  brother  living 
there.  I  spread  a  large  roll  of  paper  upon  a  rock, 
and  got  him  to  draw  the  route  overland,  and  also 
round  by  the  coast  to  it;  this  novel  proceeding 
attracted  the  whole  population  about  us;  A-wah- 
lah  constantly  referred  to  others  when  his  memory 
failed  him ;  at  length  it  was  completed  to  the  sat 
isfaction  of  all  parties.  When  I  gave  him  the 
knife  I  had  promised  as  his  reward,  and  added 
another  for  his  wives,  he  sprang  up  on  the  rock, 
flourished  the  knives  in  his  hands,  shouted,  and 


AUG.  1858.  AGAIN  IN  DANGER.  145 

danced  with  extravagant  demonstrations  of  joy, 
He  is  a  very  fine  specimen  of  his  race,  powerful, 
impulsive,  full  of  energy  and  animal  spirits,  and 
moreover  an  admirable  mimic.  The  men  were  all 
about  the  same  height,  5  feet  5  in. ;  they  eagerly 
answered  our  questions,  and  imparted  to  us  all 
the  geographical  knowledge,  although  at  first  they 
hesitated  when  we  asked  them  about  Navy  Board 
Inlet,  in  consequence  of  the  depot  placed  there 
having  been  plundered ;  but  we  soon  found  that 
they  were  easily  tired  under  cross-examination, 
and  often  said  they  knew  no  more ;  it  was  neces 
sary  to  humor  them. 

According  to  their  account  the  depot  was  dis 
covered  and  robbed  by  people  living  further  west. 
This  is  probably  true,  as  so  few  relics  were  to  be 
seen  here,  which  would  not  be  the  case  if  such 
active  fellows  as  A-wah-lah  and  Noo-Jnk  had  re 
ceived  the  first  information  of  its  proximity.  These 
people  of  Kaparoktolik  are  the  only  inhabitants 
of  the  land  lying  eastward  of  Navy  Board  Inlet, 
and  live  entirely  upon  its  southern  shore.  In  a 
similar  manner,  it  is  only  the  southern  coast  of 
the  land  to  the  west  of  Navy  Board  Inlet  that  is 
inhabited.  After  distributing  presents  to  all  the 
women  and  children,  and  making  a  few  trifling 
purchases  from  the  men,  we  returned  next  day  to 
the  ship. 

During  my  absence  more  ice  had  broken  away, 
involving  the  ship  and  almost  forcing  her  on  shore. 
13  £ 


14G  GEOGRAPHICAL  INFORMATION.          CHAP.  IX. 

It  required  every  exertion  to  save  her.  For  two 
hours  she  continued  in  imminent  danger,  and  was 
only  saved  by  the  warping  and  ice-blasting,  by 
which  at  last  she  got  clear  of  the  drifting  masses, 
four  minutes  only  before  these  were  crushed  up 
against  the  rocks  ! 

Four  Esquimaux  came  off  to  the  ship  in  their 
kayaks,  bringing  whalebone,  narwhals'  horns,  etc., 
to  barter.  Next  to  handsaws  and  files,  they  at 
tached  the  greatest  value  to  knives  and  large 
needles.  These  men  remained  on  board  for  nearly 
two  days,  and  drew  several  charts  for  us.  Noo- 
luk  explained  that  seven  or  eight  days'  journey  to 
the  southward  there  are  two  wrecks  a  short  day's 
journey  apart.  The  southern  is  in  an  inlet  or  strait 
which  contains  several  islands,  but  here  his  knowl 
edge  of  the  coast  terminates.  The  man  A-ra-neet 
said  he  visited  these  wrecks  five  winters  ago.  All 
of  them  agreed  that  it  is  a  very  long  time  since 
the  wrecks  arrived  upon  the  coast ;  and  Noo-luk, 
who  appears  to  be  about  forty-five  years  of  age, 
showed  us  how  tall  he  was  at  the  time. 

In  the  <  Narrative  of  Parry's  Second  Voyage,'  at 
p.  43V,  mention  is  made  of  the  arrival  at  Igloolik 
of  a  sledge  constructed  of  ship-timber  and  staves 
of  casks;  also  of  two  ships  that  had  been  driven 
on  shore,  and  the  crews  of  which  went  away  in 
boats.  In  August,  1821,  nearly  two  years  previ 
ous  to  the  arrival  of  this  report  through  the  Esqui 
maux  to  Itrloolik,  the  whalers  '  Dexterity '  and 


AUG.  1858.  OF  NATIVES.  147 

*  Aurora*  were  wrecked  upon  the  west  coast  of 
Davis'  Strait,  in  lat.  72°,  70  or  80  miles  southward 
of  Pond's  Bay.  The  old  man,  Ow-wang-noot,  drew 
the  coast-line  northwards  from  Cape  Graham 
Moore  to  Navy  Board  Inlet,  and  pointed  out  the 
position  of  the  northern  wreck  a  few  miles  east  of 
Cape  Hay.  Had  it  been  conspicuous,  we  must 
have  seen  it  when  we  slowly  drifted  along  that 
coast. 

These  people  usually  winter  in  snow-huts  at 
Green  Point,  a  mile  or  two  within  the  northern 
entrance  of  Pond's  Bay.  They  hunt  the  seal 
and  narwhal,  but  when  the  sea  becomes  too 
open  they  retire  to  Kaparoktolik ;  and  when 
the  remaining  ice  breaks  up  —  usually  about  the 
middle  of  August  —  a  further  migration  takes 
place  across  the  inlet  to  the  S.W.,  where  reindeer 
abound,  and  large  salmon  are  numerous  in  the 
rivers.  Every  winter  they  communicate  with  the 
Igloolik  people.  Two  winters  ago  (1856-7)  some 
people  who  lived  far  beyond  Igloolik,  in  a  country 
called  A-ka-nee  (probably  the  Ak-koo-lee  of  Par 
ry),  brought  from  there  the  information  of  white 
people  having  come  in  two  boats,  and  passed  a 
winter  in  snow-huts  at  a  place  called  by  the 
following  names :  —  A-mee-lee-oke,  A-wee-lik,  Net- 
tee-lik. 

Our  friends  pointed  to  our  whale-boat,  and 
said  the  boats  of  the  white  people  were  like  it, 
but  larger.  These  whites  had  tents  inside 


148  INFORMATION  OF  RAE'S  VISIT.         CHAP.  IX. 

their  snow-huts ;  they  killed  and  eat  reindeer 
and  narwhal,  and  smoked  pipes ;  they  bought 
dresses  from  the  natives ;  none  died ;  in  sum 
mer  they  all  went  away,  taking  with  them  two 
natives,  a  father  and  his  son.  We  could  not 
ascertain  the  name  of  the  white  chief,  nor  the 
interval  of  time  since  they  wintered  amongst 
the  Esquimaux,  as  our  friends  coidd  not  recol 
lect  these  particulars.* 

The  name  of  the  locality,  A-wee-lik  (spelt  as 
written  down  at  the  moment),  may  be  consid 
ered  identical  with  "  Ay-wee-lik,"  the  name  of 
the  land  about  Repulse  Bay  in  the  chart  of  the 
Esquimaux  woman,  lligliuk  (Parry's  '  Second  Voy 
age/  p.  197). 

We  were  of  course  greatly  surprised  to  find 
that  Dr.  Rae's  visit  to  Repulse  Bay  was  known  to 
this  distant  tribe ;  and  also  disappointed  to  find 
they  had  heard  nothing  of  Franklin's  Back-River 
parties  through  the  same  channel  of  communica 
tion.  They  were  anxiously  and  repeatedly  ques 
tioned,  but  evidently  had  not  heard  of  any  other 
white  people  to  the  westward,  nor  of  their  having 
perished  there. 

Ow-wang-noot  lived  at  Igloolik  in  his  early 
days,  and  made  a  chart  of  the  lands  adjacent, 
but  said  he  was  so  young  at  the  time  that  "  it 
seemed  like  a  dream  to  him."  He  was  acquaint- 

*  Dr.  Rac  wintered  at  Repulse  Bay  in  stone  huts  in  1846-7.     Again 
wintered  there  in  snow  huts  in  1853-4. 


AUG.  1858.  BARTER  WITH  NATIVES.  H£, 

ed  with  Ee-noo-loo-apik,  the  Esquimaux  who  once 
accompanied  Captain  Penny  to  Aberdeen,  and 
told  us  he  had  died,  lately  I  think,  at  a  place 
to  the  southward  called  Kri-merk-su-malek,  but 
that  his  sister  still  lives  at  Igloolik. 

Although  they  told  us  the  Igloolik  people 
were  worse  off  for  wood  than  they  were  them 
selves,  yet  it  was  evident  that  here  also  it  is 
very  scarce.  We  could  not  spare  them  light 
poles  or  oars  such  as  they  were  most  desirous  to 
obtain  for  harpoon  and  lance  staves  and  tentr 
poles ;  and  they  would  willingly  have  bartered 
their  kayaks  to  us  for  rifles  (having  already  ob 
tained  some  from  the  whaling-ships),  but  that 
they  had  no  other  means  of  getting  back  to  their 
homes,  nor  wood  to  nrnke  the  light  framework  of 
others. 

They  collect  whalebone  and  narwhal's  horns  in 
sufficient  quantity  to  carry  on  a  small  barter  with 
the  whalers.  A-wah-lah  showed  us  about  thirty 
horns  in  his  tent,  and  said  he  had  many  more  at 
other  stations.  A  few  years  a,go,  when  first  this 
bartering  sprang  up,  an  Esquimaux  took  such  a 
fancy  to  a  fiddle  that  he  offered  a  large  quantity 
of  whalebone  in  exchange  for  it.  The  bargain 
was  soon  made,  and  subsequently  this  whale 
bone  was  sold  for  upwards  of  a  hundred  pounds  ! 
Each  successive  year,  when  the  same  ship  re 
turns  to  Pond's  Bay,  this  native  comes  on  board 
fo  visit  his  friends,  and  goes  on  shore  with  many 
13* 


150  TEMPTATIONS  TO  BARTER.  CHAP.  IX. 

presents  in  remembrance  of  the  memorable  trans 
action.  It  is  much  better  for  him  thus  to  receive 
annual  gifts  than  to  have  received  a  large  quan 
tity  at  first,  as  the  improvidence  of  these  men 
surpasses  belief. 

Of  the  "  rod  of  iron  about  four  feet  long,  sup 
posed  to  have  been  at  one  time  galvanized," 
which  was  brought  home  in  185G  by  Captain 
Patterson,  and  forwarded  to  the  Admiralty,  I 
could  obtain  no  information.  The  natives  were 
shown  galvanized  iron,  and  said  they  had  never 
seen  any  before  ;  if  their  countrymen  had  any, 
it  must  have  corne  from  the  whalers ;  none  like 
it  was  found  in  the  wrecks.  Rod-iron  is  very  val 
uable  to  Esquimaux  for  spears  and  lances,  and 
narwhals'  horns  very  tempting  to  the  seamen, 
not  only  as  valuable  curiosities,  but  the  ivory  is 
worth  half  a  crown  a  pound ;  and  I  have  but 
little  doubt  that  many  of  the  things  said  to  have 
been  stolen  by  the  natives  were  fraudulently  bar 
tered  away  by  the  sailors.  That  there  was  no 
galvanized  iron  on  board  any  of  the  Govern 
ment  searching-ships,  nor  in  the  missing  expedi 
tion  which  sailed  from  England  as  far  back  as 
1845,  I  am  almost  certain.  But  is  it  certain  that 
this  rod  was  galvanized  ?  The  natives  gave  Cap 
tain  Patterson  to  understand  that  they  got  it  from 
the  wreck  to  the  north. 

In  July,  1854,  Captain  Deuchars  was  at  Pond's 
Bay,  and  many  natives  visited  his  ship,  coming 


AUG.  1858.  TRAVELS  OF  ESQUIMAUX.  151 

over  the  ice  on  twelve  or  fourteen  sledges  made 
of  ship's  planking.  Now  at  this  time  Sir  Edward 
Belcher's  ships  were  still  frozen  up  in  Barrow 
Strait.  My  own  impression  is  that  the  natives 
whom  Captain  Deuchars  communicated  with  in 
1854  were  visitors  at  Pond's  Bay — certainly  from 
the  southward  —  and  probably  attracted  by  the 
barter  recently  grown  up  at  that  whaling  rendez 
vous.  Having  discovered  the  use  of  the  saws 
obtained  by  barter  from  our  whalers,  they  had 
successfully  applied  them  to  the  stout  planking 
of  the  old  wrecks,  which  they  could  not  have 
stripped  off  with  any  tools  previously  in  their 
possession. 

That  the  various  tribes,  or  rather  groups  of 
families,  occasionally  visit  each  other,  sometimes 
for  change  of  hunting-grounds,  but  more  fre 
quently  for  barter,  is  wrell  known.  Captain  Par 
ker  told  me  that  a  native  whom  he  had  met  one 
summer  at  Durbin  Island,  came  on  board  his  ship 
at  Pond's  Bay  the  following  year.  The  distance 
between  the  two  places,  as  travelled  by  this  man 
in  a  single  winter,  is  scarcely  short  of  500  miles ; 
and  the  information  given  us  of  Rae's  wintering 
at  Repulse  Bay,  information  which  must  have 
travelled  here  in  two  winters,  shows  that  these 
natives  communicate  at  still  greater  distances. 

Did  other  wrecks  exist  nearer  at  hand,  our 
Pond's  Bay  friends  would  be  much  better  supplied 
with  wood.  If  the  Esquimaux  knew  of  any  with- 


152  TRAVELS  OF  ESQUIMAUX.  CHA^   IX, 

in  300,  400,  or  even  500  miles,  the  Pond's  Bay 
natives  would  at  least  have  heard  of  them,  and 
could  have  had  no  reason  for  concealing  it  from 
us.  I  only  regret  that  we  had  not  the  good  for 
tune  to  see  more  than  a  few  natives,  and  but  two 
sledges  of  ship's  planking ;  otherwise  our  own  in 
formation  might  have  been  more  copious,  and  the 
origin  of  the  fresh  supply  of  planking  decisively 
ascertained. 


AUG.  1858.  LEAVE  POND'S  BAY.  153 


CHAPTER   X. 

Leave  Pond's  Bay — A  gale  in  Lancaster  Sound — The  Beechey  Island 
Depot — An  Arctic  monument — Reflections  at  Beechey  Island — Pro 
ceed  up  Barrow's  Strait — Peel  Sound — Port  Leopold — Prince  Regent's 
Inlet — Bellot  Strait — Flood-tide  from  the  west — Unsuccessful  efforts — 
Fox's  Hole — No  water  to  the  west — Precautionary  measures — Fourth 
attempt  to  pass  through. 

ftth  Aug. — CONTINUED  calms  have  delay  >d  us.  This 
evening  we  steamed  from  Pond's  Bay  northward, 
although  our  coals  have  been  sadly  reduced  by 
the  almost  constant  necessity  for  steam-power 
since  leaving  the  Waigat.  The  three  steam- 
whalers  have  gone  southward ;  none  others  have 
arrived.  They  appear  to  us  to  be  leaving  the 
whales  behind  them ;  we  saw  many  whilst  up  the 
strait,  and  at  the  edge  of  the  remaining  ice.  The 
natives  said  they  would  remain  as  long  as  the  ice 
remained,  but  when  it  all  broke  up  they  would 
return  into  Baffin's  Bay  and  go  southward;  and 
that  these  animals  arrive  in  early  spring,  and  do 
not  pass  through  the  strait  into  any  other  sea 
beyond. 

Monday  evening,  Wi.  —  On  the  night  of  the  6th 
a  pleasant,  fair  breeze  sprang  up,  and  enabled  us 
to  dispense  with  the  engine.  An  immense  bear 
was  shot ;  he  measured  8  feet  7  inches  in  length, 


l,r>4  GALE  IN  LANCASTER  SOUND.  CHAP.  X. 

and  is  destined  for  the  museum  of  the  Royal 
Dublin  Society-  On  the  7th  the  wind  gradually 
freshened  and  frustrated  my  intention  of  examin 
ing  the  wreck  spoken  of  near  Cape  Hay;  at  night 
it  increased  to  a  very  heavy  gale.  Although  past 
Navy  Board  Inlet,  very  little  ice  had  yet  been 
met  with.  The  weather,  and  fear  of  ice  to  lee 
ward,  obliged  us  to  heave  the  vessel  to,  under 
main  trysail  and  fore  staysail.  The  squalls  were 
extremely  violent  and  seas  unusually  high. 

All  Sunday,  the  8th,  the  gale  continued,  al 
though  not  with  such  extreme  force  ;  the  deep 
rolling  of  the  ship,  and  moaning  of  the  half- 
drowned  dogs  amidst  the  pelting  sleet  and  rain, 
was  anything  but  agreeable.  Notwithstanding 
that  I  had  been  up  all  the  previous  night,  I  felt 
too  anxious  to  sleep ;  the  wind  blew  directly  up 
Barrow  Strait,  drifting  us  about  two  miles  an 
hour.  Occasionally  she  drifted  to  leeward  of 
masses  of  ice,  reminding  us  that  if  any  of  the 
dense  pack  which  covered  this  sea  only  three 
wrceks  ago  remained  to  leeward  of  us,  we  must  be 
rapidly  setting  down  upon  its  weather  edge.  The 
only  expedient  in  such  a  case  is  to  endeavor  to 
run  into  it  —  once  well  within  its  outer  margin  a 
ship  is  comparatively  safe  —  the  danger  lies  in  the 
attempt  to  penetrate  ;  to  escape  out  of  the  pack 
afterwards  is  also  a  doubtful  matter. 

In  the  evening  we  were  gl.td  to  ree  the  land, 
and  find  ourselves  oil'  the  north  shore  near  Cape 


Ara.  1858.  BEECHY  ISLAND  DEPOT.  155 

Bullen,  for  the  violent  motion  cf  the  ship  and 
very  weak  horizontal  magnetic  force  had  ren 
dered  our  compasses  useless.  This  morning,  the 
Oth,  the  gale  broke,  and  the  sea  began  to  subside 
rapidly  ;  by  noon  it  was  almost  calm,  but  a  thick 
gloom  prevailed,  ominous,  it  might  be,  of  more 
mischief.  All  along  the  land  there  is  ice,  but, 
broken  up  into  harmless  atoms.  We  have  carried 
away  a  main  gaff  and  a  jibstay,  but  have  come  re 
markably  well  through  such  a  gale  with  such  tri 
fling  damage. 

YWi. —  Before  noon  to-day  we  anchored  inside 
Cape  Riley,  and  immediately  commenced  prepar 
ations  for  embarking  coals.  I  visited  Beechy 
Island  house,  and  found  the  door  open ;  it  musf 
have  been  blown  in  by  an  easterly  gale  long  ago, 
for  much  ice  had  accumulated  immediately  inside 
it.  Most  of  the  biscuit  in  bags  was  damaged,  but 
every  thing  else  was  in  perfect  order.  Upon  the 
north  and  west  sides  of  the  house,  where  a  wall 
had  been  constructed,  there  was  a  vast  accumula 
tion  of  ice,  in  which  the  lower  tier  of  casks  be 
tween  the  two  were  embedded,  and  its  suiface 
thawed  into  pools.  Neither  casks  nor  walls  should 
have  been  allowed  to  stand  near  the  house.  The 
southern  and  eastern  sides  were  clear  and  perfect 
ly  dry.  The  i  Mary '  decked  boat,  and  two  30-feet 
lifeboats,  were  in  excellent  order,  and  their  paint 
appeared  fresh,  but  oars  and  bare  wood  were 
bleached  white. 


156  BEECHEY  ISLAND  DEPOT.  CHAP.  X 

The  gutta-percha  boat  was  useless  when  left 
here,  and  remains  in  the  same  state.  Two  small 
sledge  travelling  boats  were  damaged ;  one  of  them 
had  been  blown  over  and  over  along  the  beach 
until  finally  arrested  by  the  other.  The  bears 
and  foxes  do  not  appear  to  have  touched  any 
thing.  I  have  taken  on  board  all  letters  left  here 
for  Franklin's  or  Collinson's  expeditions  and  also 
a  20-feet  sledge-boat  for  our  own  travelling  pur 
poses. 

Last  night  we  steamed  very  close  round  Cape 
Hurd  in  a  dense  fog,  and  crept  along  the  land  as 
our  only  guide  :  we  were  thus  led  into  Rigby  Bay, 
and  discovered  a  shoal  off  its  entrance  by  ground 
ing  upon  it.  After  a  quarter  of  an  hour  we 
floated  off  unhurt. 

In  lowering  a  boat  to  pursue  a  bear,  Robert 
Hampton  fell  overboard ;  fortunately  he  could 
swim,  and  was  very  soon  picked  up,  but  the  in 
tense  cold  of  the  water  had  almost  paralyzed  his 
limbs.  The  bear  was  shot  and  taken  on  board. 

Sunday,  15/^,  9  P.M. —  Our  coaling  was  complet 
ed  yesterday,  and  the  ship  brought  over  and  an 
chored  off  the  house  in  Erebus  and  Terror  Bay. 
A  small  proportion  of  provisions  and  winter  cloth 
ing  has  been  embarked  to  complete  our  deficien 
cies  ;  the  ice  has  been  scraped  out  of  the  house 
and  its  roof  thoroughly  repaired,  a  record  de 
posited,  and  door  securely  closed. 

I   found    lying   at    Godhavn    a   marble    tablet 


Arc.  1853.  AN  ARCTIC  MONUMENT.  157 

which  had  been  sent  out  by  Lady  Franklin,  in 
the  American  expedition  of  1855  under  Captain 
Hartstein,  for  the  purpose  of  being  erected  at 
Beechey  Island.  Circumstances  prevented  the 
Americans  executing  this  kindly  service,  and  it 
fell  to  my  lot  to  convey  it  to  the  site  originally 
intended.  The  tablet  was  constructed  in  New 
York,  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Grinnell,  at  the 
request  of  Lady  Franklin,  in  order  that  the  only 
opportunity  which  then  offered  of  sending  it  to 
the  Arctic  regions  might  not  be  lost.  I  placed 
the  monument  upon  the  raised  flagged  square  in 
the  centre  of  which  stands  the  cenotaph  record 
ing  the  names  of  those  wTho  perished  in  the  Gov 
ernment  expedition  under  Sir  Edward  Belcher. 
Here  also  is  placed  a  small  tablet  to  the  memory 
of  Lieutenant  Bellot.  I  could  not  have  selected 
for  Lady  Franklin's  memorial  a  more  appropriate 
or  conspicuous  site.  The  inscription  runs  as  fol 
lows  : — 

14 


158  THE  INSCRIPTION.  CIIAI    X 

TO   THE    MEMORY  OF 

FRANKLIN, 
CROZIER,  FITZJAMES, 

AND    ALL    THEIR 

GALLANT     BROTHER    OFFICERS    AND    FAITHFUL 
COMPANIONS    WHO    HAVE    SUFFERED    AND    PERISHED 

IN    THE    CAUSE    OF    SCIENCE    AND 
THF,    SERVICE    OF    THEIR  COUNTRY. 

THIS  TABLET 

IS    ERECTED    NEAR    THE    SPOT    WHERE 

THEY  PASSED    THEIR    FIRST    ARCTIC 

WINTER,    AND    WHENCE    THEY    ISSUED 

FORTH    TO    CONQUER    DIFFICULTIES    OR 

TO  DIE. 

IT    COMMEMORATES    THE    GRIEF    OF    THEIK 

ADMIRING    COUNTRYMEN    AND    FRIENDS, 

AND     THE    ANGUISH,    SUBDUED    BY    FAITH, 

OF    HER    WHO    HAS    LOST,    IN    THE    HEROIC 

LEADER    OF    THE     EXPEDITION,    THE     MOST 

DEVOTED    AND    AFFECTIONATE    OF 

HUSBANDS. 

O 

"  AND  SO  HE  BRINGETH  THEM  UNTO  THE 

HAVEN  WHERE  THEY  WOULD  BE." 

1855. 

This  stone  has  been  entrusted  to  be  affixed  in  its  place  by  the  Officers  and  Crew  o*  ih« 
American  Expedition,  commanded  by  Lt.  II.  .1.  llartsteiu.  in  search  of  Dr.  Kane  and 
his  Companions. 

This  Tablet  having  been  left  at  Disco  by  the 
American  Expedition,  which  was  unable  to 
reach  Heechey  Island,  in  1855,  was  put  on 
board  the  Discovery  Yacht  Fox.  and  is  now 
set  up  here  by  Captain  M'Ointock,  R.N., 
commanding  the  final  expedition  of  search 
for  ascertaining  the  fate  of  Sir  John  Franklin 
and  his  companions,  18o8. 


AUG.  1858.     REFLECTIONS  AT  BEECI1EY  ISLAND.    '          159 

We  are  now  ready  to  proceed  upon  our  voyage 
from  Beechey  Island,  and  there  is  no  ice  in  sight ; 
but  having  worked  almost  unceasingly  since  our 
arrival  up  to  the  present  hour,  the  men  require  a 
night's  rest.  Nearly  forty  tons  of  fuel  have  been 
embarked. 

The  total  absence  of  ice  in  Barrow  Strait  is 
astonishing.  No  less  so  are  the  changes  and 
chances  of  this  singular  navigation.  Twelve  days 
later  than  this  in  1850,  when  I  belonged  to  Her 
Majesty's  ship  '  Assistance,'  with  considerable  dif 
ficulty  we  came  within  sight  of  Beechey  Island ; 
a  cairn  on  its  summit  attracted  notice;  Captain 
Ommanney  managed  to  land,  and  discovered  the 
first  traces  of  the  missing  expedition.  Next  day 
the  United  States  schooner  '  Rescue'  arrived ;  the 
day  after,  Captain  Penny  joined  us,  and  subse 
quently  Captain  Austin,  Sir  John  Ross,  and  Cap 
tain  Forsy th,  —  in  all,  ten  vessels  were  assembled 
here.  This  day  six  years,  when  in  command  of 
the  '  Intrepid/  we  sailed  from  here  for  Melville 
Island  in  company  with  the  '  Resolute.'  Again  I 
was  here  at  this  time  in  1854, —  still  frozen  up, — 
in  the  '  North  Star,'  and  doubts  were  entertained 
of  the  possibility  of  escape. 

To  come  down  to  a  later  period,  it  was  this  day 
fortnight  only  that  I  set  out  for  the  native  village 
in  Pond's  Inlet,  under  the  guidance  of  an  old 
woman ;  the  trip  was  interesting,  but  we  failed  to 
obtain  the  slightest  clue  to  the  "  whereabouts  "  of 


ICO  CAPE  IIOTHAM.  CHAP.  X 

the  missing  ships ;  moreover,  our  own  little  vessel 
had  a  most  providential  escape  from  being  crushed 
against  the  cliffs ;  and  this  day  week  was  spent  in 
contending  with  a  furious  gale,  during  which  the 
ship  had  nearly  been  driven  to  leeward  and  dashed 
to  pieces  by  the  sea-beaten  pack.  Yet  these  are 
only  preliminaries, —  we  are  only  now  about  to 
commence  the  interesting  part  of  our  voyage.  It 
is  to  be  hoped  the  poor  '  Fox '  has  many  more 
lives  to  spare. 

Monday  nigld,  IQth  Aug.  —  Sailed  from  Beechey 
Island  this  morning,  and  in  the  evening  landed  at 
Cape  Hotham.  A  small  depot  of  provisions  and 
three  boats  were  left  there  by  former  expeditions. 
Of  the  depot  all  has  been  destroyed  with  the  ex 
ception  of  two  casks  landed  in  1850.  The  boats 
were  sound,  but  several  of  their  oars,  which  had 
been  secured  upright,  were  found  broken  down 
by  bears  —  those  inquisitive  animals  having  a 
decided  antipathy  to  anything  stuck  up  —  stuck 
up  things  in  general  being,  in  this  country,  un 
natural.  Fragments  of  the  depot  and  the  broken 
oars  were  tossed  about  in  every  direction.  Nu 
merous  records  were  found ;  to  the  most  recent  a 
few  lines  were  added,  stating  that  we  had  removed 
the  two  whale-boats  —  one  to  be  left  at  Port 
Leopold,  the  other  to  replace  our  own  crushed  by 
tbe  ice. 

I7l/i.  —  Last  night  battling  against  a  strong  foul 
wind  with  sea,  in  rain  and  fog.  To-day  mucli  loose 


AUG.  1858.        PROCEED  DOWN  PEEL  STRAIT.  161 

ice  is  seen  southward  of  Griffith's  Island.  The 
weather  improved  this  afternoon,  and  we  shot 
gallantly  past  Limestone  Island,  and  are  now 
steering  down  Peel  Strait ;  all  of  us  in  a  wild  state 
of  excitement  —  a  mingling  of  anxious  hopes  and 
fears ! 

IStk. — For  25  miles  last  evening  we  ran  un- 
obstructedly  down  Peel  Strait,  but  then  came  in 
sight  of  unbroken  ice  extending  across  it  from 
shore  to  shore  !  It  was  much  decayed,  and  of  one 
year's  growth  only  ;  yet  as  the  strait  continues  to 
contract  for  60  miles  further,  and  it  appeared  to 
me  to  afford  so  little  hope  of  becoming  navigable 
in  the  short  remainder  of  the  season,  I  immedi 
ately  turned  about  for  Bellot  Strait,  as  affording 
a  better  prospect  of  a  passage  into  the  western 
sea  discovered  by  Sir  James  Ross  from  Four  River 
Point  in  1849.  Our  disappointment  at  the  inter 
ruption  of  our  progress  was  as  sudden  as  it  was 
severe.  We  did  not  linger  in  hope  of  a  change, 
but  steered  out  again  into  the  broad  waters  of 
Barrow  Strait.  However,  should  Bellot  Strait 
prove  hopeless,  I  intend  to  return  hither  to  make 
one  more  effort  before  the  close  of  the  season. 

We  are  now  approaching  Port  Leopold,  where 
it  is  necessary  to  stop  for  a  few  hours  to  examine 
the  state  of  the  steam  launch,  provisions  and  stores, 
left  there  in  1849,  as  adverse  circumstances  may 
oblige  •  me  to  fall  back  upon  it  as  a  point  of  sup 
port. 

14*  L 


1G2  PORT  LEOPOLD.  CHAP.  X 

19/A.  —  At  anchor  in  Port  Leopold;  it  is  per 
fectly  clear  of  ice ;  we  arrived  here  in  the  night. 
How  astonishingly  bare  the  land  looks ;  it  is  more 
barren  than  Beechey  island,  whilst  the  rock  con 
tains  far  fewer  fossils !  On  this  day  nine  years 
ago  the  harbor  and  sea  continued  covered  with 
ice,  and  the  ships  (<  Enterprise  '  and <  Investigator ') 
were  unable  to  escape.  At  some  period  since  then 
the  ice  has  been  pressed  in  upon  the  low  shingle 
point ;  it  has  forced  the  launch  up  before  it,  and 
left  her  broadside  on  to  the  beach,  with  both  bows 
stove  in,  and  in  want  of  considerable  repairs,  but 
the  means  are  all  at  hand  for  executing  them. 
We  tried  to  haul  her  further  up,  but  she  was 
firmly  imbedded  and  frozen  into  the  ground. 
Many  things  appear  to  have  been  covered  with 
the  loose  shingle,  bags  of  coal  and  coke  just  ap 
pearing  through  it  scarcely  above  high-water  mark. 
Amongst  the  missing  articles  is  the  steam-engine. 

Although  the  flagstaff  upon  the  summit  of 
North  East  Cape  is  still  standing,  the  one  erected 
upon  this  point  and  almost  the  whole  of  the 
framing  of  the  house  lies  prostrate.  The  pro 
visions  appeared  to  be  sound,  but  were  not  gen 
erally  examined.  The  whale-boat  we  removed 
from  Cape  Hotham  was  landed  here,  and  a  record 
of  our  proceedings  added  to  the  many  which  have 
accumulated  here  during  the  last  ten  years.  Some 
coke  and  a  few  things  useful  to  us  and  merely 
decaying  here  were  taken  on  board,  and  by 


AUG.  1858.  OFF  FURY  POINT.  163 

evening  we  were  again  speeding  onward  with 
augmented  resources,  and  the  confidence  inspired 
by  a  secure  depot  in  our  rear;  buoyed  up  more 
over  by  the  joyful  anticipation  of  soon  reaching 
the  goal  of  our  long-deferred  hopes. 

20^.  —  Noon.  Exactly  off  Fury  Point,  There 
is  one  large  iceberg  far  off  in  the  S.E. ;  no  other 
ice  in  sight !  I  would  have  landed  at  Fury  Beach 
to  examine  the  remaining  supplies  there,  but  a 
snow  shower  prevented  our  distinguishing  any 
thing,  and  a  strong  tide  carried  us  past  before  we 
were  aware  of  it. 

We  feel  that  the  crisis  of  our  voyage  is  near  at 
hand.  Does  Bellot  Strait  really  exist  ?  if  so,  is  it 
free  from  ice  ? 

A  depot  of  provisions  is  being  got  ready  to  be 
landed,  should  it  be  practicable  for  us  to  push 
through  and  proceed  to  the  southward. 

21st.  —  On  approaching  Brentford  Bay  last 
evening  packed  ice  was  seen  streaming  out  of 
it,  also  much  ice  in  the  S.E.  The  northern  point 
of  entrance  was  landed  upon  by  Sir  John  Ross 
in  1829,  and  named  Possession  Point ;  we  rounded 
it  closely,  and  could  distinguish  a  few  stones  piled 
up  upon  a  large  rock  near  its  highest  part  —  this 
is  his  cairn.  As  we  passed  westward  between  the 
point  and  Browne's  Island,  through  a  channel  a 
mile  in  width,  a  close  pack  was  discovered  a  few 
miles  ahead ;  and  it  being  past  ten  o'clock,  and 
almost  dark,  the  ship  was  anchored  in  a  conven- 


164  DEPOT  BAY.  CHAP.  X. 

lent  bay  three  or  four  miles  within  Possession 
Point.  Here  our  depot  is  to  be  landed,  therefore 
we  shall  name  this  for  the  present  Depot  Bay ;  a 
very  narrow  isthmus  between  its  head  and  Haz 
ard  Inlet  unites  the  low  limestone  peninsula,  of 
which  Possession  Point  is  the  extreme,  to  the 
mainland. 

To-day  an  unsparing  use  of  steam  and  canvas 
forced  the  ship  eight  miles  further  west ;  we  were, 
then  about  half-way  through  Bellot  Strait!  Its 
western  capes  are  lofty  bluffs,  such  as  may  be  dis 
tinguished  fifty  miles  distant  in  clear  weather ;  be 
tween  them  there  was  a  clear  broad  channel,  but 
five  or  six  miles  of  close  heavy  pack  intervened 
—  the  sole  obstacle  to  our  progress.  Of  course 
this  pack  will  speedily  disperse  ;  —  it  is  no  won 
der  that  we  should  feel  elated  at  such  a  glorious 
prospect,  and  content  to  bide  our  time  in  the 
security  of  Depot  Bay.  A  feeling  of  tranquillity 
- —  of  earnest,  hearty  satisfaction  —  has  come  over 
us.  There  is  no  appearance  amongst  us  of  any 
thing  boastful ;  we  have  all  experienced  too  keenly 
the  vicissitudes  of  Arctic  voyaging  to  admit  of 
such  a  feeling. 

At  the  turn  of  tide  we  perceived  that  we  were 
being  carried,  together  with  the  pack,  back  to  the 
eastward ;  every  moment  our  velocity  was  in 
creased,  and  presently  we  were  dismayed  at  see 
ing  grc-unded  ice  near  us,  but  were  very  quickly 
swept  pas*,  it  at  the  rate  of  nearly  six  miles  an 


ACG   1858.  BELLOT   STRAIT.  165 

hour,  though  within  200  yards  of  the  rocks,  and 
of  instant  destruction  !  As  soon  as  we  possibly 
could  we  got  clear  of  the  packed  ice,  and  left  it 
to  be  wildly  hurled  about  by  various  whirlpools 
and  rushes  of  the  tide,  until  finally  carried  out 
into  Brentford  Bay.  The  ice-masses  were  large, 
and  dashed  violently  against  each  other,  and  the 
rocks  lay  at  some  distance  off  the  southern  shore ; 
we  had  a  fortunate  escape  from  such  dangerous 
company.  After  anchoring  again  in  Depot  Bay, 
a  large  stock  of  provisions  and  a  record  of  our 
proceedings  were  landed,  as  there  seems  every 
probability  of  advancing  into  the  western  sea  in 
a  very  few  days. 

The  appearance  of  Bellot  Strait  is  precisely 
that  of  a  Greenland  fiord ;  it  is  about  20  miles 
long  and  scarcely  a  mile  wide  in  the  narrowest 
part,  and  there,  within  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  the 
north  shore  the  depth  was  ascertained  to  be  400 
feet.  Its  granitic  shores  are  bold  and  lofty,  with 
a  very  respectable  sprinkling  of  vegetation  for 
lat,  72°.  Some  of  the  hill-ranges  rise  to  about 
1500  or  1600  feet  above  the  sea. 

The  low  land  eastward  of  Depot  Bay  is  com 
posed  of  limestone,  destitute  alike  of  fossils  and 
vegetation.  The  granite  commences  upon  the 
west  shore  of  Depot  Bay,  and  is  at  once  bold  and 
rugged.  Many  seals  have  been  seen;  a  young 
bear  was  shot,  and  Walker  took  a  photograph  of 
him  as  he  lay  upon  our  deck,  the  dogs  creeping 
near  to  lick  up  the  blood. 


166  FLOOD  TIDE  FROM  THE  WEST.  CHAP.  X 

The  great  rapidity  of  the  tides  in  Bellot  Strait 
fully  accounts  for  the  spaces  of  open  water  seen 
by  Mr.  Kennedy  *  when  he  travelled  through, 
early  in  April.  The  strait  runs  very  nearly  east 
and  west,  but  its  eastern  entrance  is  well  masked 
by  Long  Island ;  when  half-way  through  both 
seas  are  visible.  As  in  Greenland,  the  night  tides 
are  much  higher  than  the  day  tides ;  last  night  it 
was  high  water  at  about  half-past  eleven;  as 
nearly  as  we  can  estimate,  the  tide  runs  through 
to  the  west,  from  two  hours  before  high  water 
until  four  hours  after  it ;  that  is,  the  flood-tide 
comes  from  the  west !  Such  is  also  the  case  in 
Hecla  and  Fury  Strait ;  in  both  places  the  tide 
from  the  west  is  much  the  strongest.  I  am  not 
sufficiently  informed  to  discuss  this  subject,  but 
infer  the  existence  of  a  channel  between  Victoria 
and  Prince  of  Wales'  Land.  The  rise  and  fall  is 
much  less  upon  the  western  side  of  the  Isthmus 
of  Boothia  than  upon  the  east,  and  it  likewise 
decreases,  we  know,  in  Barrow  Strait,  as  we  ad 
vance  westward. 

23rd.--  Yesterday  Bellot  Strait  was  again  ex 
amined,  but  the  five  miles  of  close  pack  occupied 
precisely  the  same  position  as  if  heaped  together 
by  contending  tides ;  considerable  augmentations 
were  moreover  seen  drifting  in  from  the  western 
sea.  Finding  nothing  could  be  effected  in  Bellot 


*  Mr.  Kennedy  discovered  this  important  passage  when  in  command 
of  the  'Prince  Albert '  in  1851. 


AUG.  1858.  RAMBLE  INLAND.  167 

Strait,  we  sought  in  vain  for  the  more  southern 
channel  which  should  exist  to  form  Levesque 
Island :  we  did,  however,  find  a  beautiful  harbor, 
and  are  now  securely  anchored  in  its  north-west 
arm ;  I  have  named  it  after  the  gentleman  whose 
former  island  I  have  thus  reluctantly  converted 
into  the  northern  extreme  of  the  Boothian  Penin 
sula,  and  consequently  of  the  American  continent. 
The  south-western  angle  of  Brentford  Bay  is  still 
covered  with  unbroken  ice. 

This  evening  we  all  landed  to  explore  our  new 
ground.  Young  and  Petersen  shot  some  brent 
geese ;  Walker  saw  two  deer,  but  he  was  botaniz 
ing,  and  had  no  gun ;  others  were  seen  by  some 
of  the  men,  and  followed,  but  without  success. 

I  enjoyed  a  delightfully  refreshing  ramble,  a 
mile  or  two  inland,  through  a  gently  ascending 
valley,  then  two  miles  along  the  narrow  margin 
of  a  pretty  little  lake  between  mountains,  beyond 
which  lay  a  much  larger  one,  four  or  five  miles 
in  diameter;  this  farther  lake  was  only  partially 
divested  of  its  winter  ice.  Here  the  scenery  was 
not  only  grand,  but  beautiful ;  there  was  enough 
of  vegetation  to  tint  the  craggy  hill-sides  and 
to  make  the  sheltered  hollows  absolutely  green ; 
deer-tracks  and  the  footprints  of  wild-fowl  were 
everywhere  numerous  along  the  water-side.  1 
saw  two  decayed  skulls  of  musk  oxen,  and  circles 
of  stones  by  the  little  lake,  doubtless  at  some  re 
mote  period  the  summer  residence  of  wandering 


168  FOX'S  HOLE.  CHA±«.  X 

Esquimaux ;  hence  I  infer  that  fish  abound  in  the 
lake,  and  that  this  valley  is  a  favorite  deer-pass. 

But  the  contemplation  of  these  objects,  although 
agreeable,  was  not  the  object  of  my  solitary  ram 
ble  ;  I  came  on  shore  to  cogitate  undisturbed  in 
a  leisurely  and  philosophic  manner.  We  hoped 
very  soon  to  enter  an  unknown  sea;  discoveries 
were  to  be  made,  contingencies  provided  for,  and 
plans  prepared  to  meet  them. 

Yesterday  Petersen  shot  an  immense  bearded 
seal ;  it  sank,  but  floated  up  an  hour  afterwards. 
This  animal  measured  8  feet  long,  and  weighed 
about  500  Ibs.  We  prefer  its  flesh  to  that  of  the 
small  seals,  and  its  blubber  will  afford  a  valuable 
addition  to  our  stock  of  lamp  oil  for  the  coming 
winter. 

25th.  —  In  Depot  Bay.  We  remained  but 
twenty-four  hours  in  Levesque  Harbor ;  a  change 
of  wind  led  us  to  hope  for  a  removal  of  the  ice 
in  Bellot  Strait,  therefore  I  determined  to  make 
another  attempt. 

When  off  the  table-land,  where  the  depth  is  not 
more  than  from  6  to  10  fathoms,  and  the  tides 
run  strongest,  the  ship  hardly  moved  over  the 
ground,  although  going  GJ  knots  through  the 
water !  Thus  delayed,  darkness  overtook  us,  and 
we  anchored  at  midnight  in  a  small  indentation  of 
the  north  shore,  christened  by  the  men  Forts  Hole, 
rather  more  than  half-way  through. 

For  several  hours  we  had  been  coquetting  with 


AUG.  1858.  PERILOUS  AMUSEMENT.  169 

huge  rampant  ice-masses  that  wildly  surged  about 
in  the  tideway,  or  we  dashed  through  boiling  ed 
dies,  and  sometimes  almost  grazed  the  tall  cliffs ; 
we  were  therefore  naturally  glad  of  a  couple  or 
three  hours'  rest,  even  in  such  a  very  unsafe  posi 
tion.  At  early  dawn  we  again  proceeded  west, 
but  for  three  miles  only ;  the  pack  again  stopped 
us,  and  we  could  perceive  that  the  western  sea 
was  covered  with  ice :  the  east  wind,  which  could 
alone  remove  it,  now  gave  place  to  a  hard-hearted 
westerly  one. 

All  the  strait  to  the  eastward  of  us,  and  the 
eastern  sea,  as  far  as  could  be  seen  from  the  hill 
tops,  is  perfectly  free  from  ice,  whereas  in  the 
direction  we  wish  to  proceed  there  is  nothing  but 
packed-ice,  or  water  which  cannot  be  reached. 
Bitterly  disappointed  we  are,  of  course ;  yet  there 
is  reasonable  ground  for  hope  ;  grim  winter  will 
not  ratify  the  obstinate  proceedings  of  the  western 
ice  for  nearly  four  weeks. 

Last  evening's  amusement  was  most  exciting,  nor 
was  it  without  its  peculiar  perils.  With  cunning 
and  activity  worthy  of  her  name,  oar  little  craft 
warily  avoided  a  til  ting-match  with  the  stout  blue 
masses  which  whirled  about,  as  if  with  wilful  im 
petuosity,  through  the  narrow  channel ;  some  of 
them  were  so  large  as  to  ground  even  in  6  or  7 
fathoms  water.  Many  were  drawn  into  the  eddies, 
and,  acquiring  considerable  velocity  in  a  contrary 
direction,  suddenly  broke  bounds,  charging  out 
15 


170        PRECAUTIONARY  MEASURES.     CHAP.  X 

into  the  stream  and  entering  into  mighty  conflict 
with  their  fellows.  After  such  a  frolic  the  massts 
would  revolve  peaceably  or  unite  with  the  pack, 
and  await  quietly  their  certain  dissolution;  may 
the  day  of  that  wished-for  dissolution  be  near  at 
hand !  Nothing  but  strong  hope  of  success  in 
duced  me  to  encounter  such  dangerous  opposition. 
I  not  only  hoped,  but  almost  felt,  that  we  deserved 
to  succeed. 

Two  plans  wTere  now  occupying  my  thought?, 
both  of  them  resulting  from  the  conviction  that 
we  should  probably  be  compelled  to  winter  to  the 
eastward  of  Bellot  Strait :  the  most  important  of 
these  plans  is  that  of  finding  some  series  of  valleys, 
chain  of  lakes,  or  continuous  low  land,  practicable 
as  an  overland  sledge-route  to  the  western  coast, 
along  which  we  may  transport  depots  of  provis 
ions  this  autumn ;  for  it  is  certain  that  the  strong 
tides  will  prevent  Bellot  Strait  being  frozen  over 
till  winter  is  far  advanced,  and  its  surface  will 
afford  us  no  means  of  passing  westward  with  our 
sledges. 

The  other  plan,  and  that  which  we  are  now 
about  to  execute,  is  to  land  a  small  depot  of  pro 
visions  60  or  70  miles  to  the  southward,  and  down 
Prince  Regent's  Inlet,  in  order  to  facilitate  com 
munication  with  the  Esquimaux  either  this  autumn 
or  in  early  spring. 

This  precautionary  step  became  so  necessary  in 
the  event  of  the  west  coast  presenting  unusual 


AUG.  1858.  STILL  WELL  BAY.  171 

difficulties,  that  I  determined  to  carry  it  at  once 
into  execution.  Quitting  the  "  Fox's  Hole,"  and 
resting  for  one  night  in  Depot  Bay,  we  sailed 
thence  on  the  26th;  a  fine  breeze  carried  us  rapidly 
southward  along  the  coast  of  Regent  Inlet ;  there 
was  but  little  obstruction;  occasionally  it  was 
necessary  to  pass  through  a  stream  of  loose  ice ; 
but  we  saw  little  of  any  kind,  compared  to  the  ex 
periences  of  Sir  John  Ross  in  1829. 

About  dusk  (nine  o'clock)  much  loose  ice  to  the 
southward  prevented  our  making  any  attempt  at 
farther  progress;  we  therefore  anchored  off  the 
coast  —  in  Stillwell  Bay,  I  think  —  about  45  miles 
from  the  Depot  Bay.  Here  the  depot,  consisting 
of  120  rations,  was  landed.  I  observe  that  it  has 
only  b^en  on  penetrating  into  Brentford  Bay  that 
we  have  found  the  primary  rocks  washed  by  the 
sea ;  the  coast-line  both  north  and  south,  as  far  as. 
and  beyond  our  present  position,  is  a  low  shore  of 
pale  limestone,  destitute  of  fossils ;  we  can,  how 
ever,  see  granitic  hill-ranges  far  in  the  interior. 

On  the  27th  we  commenced  beating  back  to 
the  northward,  tacking  between  the  land  and  the 
ice  which  lay  about  15  miles  off  shore.  Towards 
night  the  wind  greatly  increased,  and  the  ship, 
under  reefed  sail  plunged  violently  into  the  short, 
swift,  high  seas ;  we  also  felt  quite  as  uneasy  and 
restless  as  the  ship,  in  our  great  anxiety  to  get 
back  and  ascertain  what  changes  were  likely  to 
be  effected  by  the  gale. 


172  ROSS'S  CAIRN.  CHAP.  X 

2S//J.  —  To-night  the  weather  is  more  pleasant; 
the  keen  and  contrary  wind  has  given  place  to  a 
gentle,  fair  breeze,  the  swell  has  almost  subsided, 
no  ice  has  been  seen  to-day,  and  the  night  is  dark 
and  unusually  mild.  I  can  hardly  fancy  that  the 
sea  which  gently  rocks  us  is  not  the  ocean,  and 
the  soft  air  the  breath  of  our  own  temperate  re 
gion  !  The  delusion  is  charming. 

30//J.  —  Yesterday  after  anchoring  in  Depot  Bay 
I  walked  over  to  Possession  Point,  to  visit  Ross's 
cairn.  I  found  a  few  stones  piled  up  on  two  large 
boulders,  and  under  each  a  halfpenny,  one  of  which 
I  pocketed.  Upon  the  ground  lay  the  fragments 
of  a  bottle  which  once  contained  the  record,  and 
near  it  a  staff  about  4  feet  long.  Having  calcu 
lated  upon  finding  the  bottle  sound,  I  was  obliged 
to  make  an  impromptu  record-case  of  its  long 
neck,  into  which  I  thrust  my  brief  document,  and 
consigned  it  to  the  safe  custody  of  a  small  heap  of 
stones,  the  staff  being  erected  over  it. 

It  was  dark  before  I  got  on  board  again.  The 
strait  had  been  reconnoitred  from  the  hills,  and 
was  reported  to  be  perfectly  clear  of  ice  !  This 
morning  we  made  a  fourth  attempt  to  pass 
through;  but  Bellot  Strait  was  by  no  means 
clear;  the  same  obstruction  existed  which  de 
feated  our  last  attempt,  and  in  precisely  the  same 
place.  Returning  eastward,  we  entered  a  narrow 
arm  of  the  sea,  nearly  a  couple  of  miles  to  the 


AUG   1858.  MT.  WALKER.  173 

west  of  Depot  Bay,  and  anchored  in  a  small  creek 
perfectly  sheltered  and  land-locked,  at  the  foot  of 
a  sugarloaf  hill.*  The  temperature  is  falling ;  last 
night  it  stood  at  24.° 

^Subsequently  named  Mount  Walker. 

15* 


174  PROCEED  WESTWARD  IN  A  BOAT,      CIIAP.  XI 


CHAPTER    XI. 

Proceed  westward  in  a  boat —  Cheerless  state  of  the  western  sea —  Strug 
gles  in  Bellot  Strait  —  Falcons,  good  Arctic  fare — The  resources  of 
Boothia  Felix  —  Future  sledge  travelling  —  Heavy  gales  —  Hobson's 
party  start — Winter  quarters  —  Bellot's  Strait  —  Advanced  depot  es 
tablished  —  Observatories  —  Intense  cold  —  Autumn  travellers  —  Nar 
row  escape. 

MOST  anxious  to  know  the  real  state  of  the  ice  in 
the  western  sea  —  upon  which  our  hopes  so  en 
tirely  depend  —  I  intend  starting  this  evening  by 
boat,  as  far  through  Bellot  Strait  as  the  ice  will 
permit,  then  land  and  ascend  the  western  coast- 
hills. 

list  Sept.  —  My  boat  party  consisted  of  four  men 
and  the  doctor,  who  came  with  me  for  the  novel 
ty  of  the  cruise,  bringing  his  camera  to  fasten 
upon  any  thing  picturesque.  We  landed  near 
Half-way  Island,  and  pitched  our  tent  for  the 
night.  Early  next  morning  I  commenced  the 
rather  formidable  undertaking  of  ascending  the 
hills,  for  it  is  not  possible  to  pass  under  the  cliffs, 
and  at  last  I  gained  the  summit  of  the  loftiest, 
overlooking  Cape  Bird  at  a  distance  of  3  or  4 
miles,  and  affording  a  spendid  view  to  the  west 
ward,  as  well  as  glimpses  between  the  hills  of  the 


M'Clintoek  in  his  Boat  sailing  through  Bcllot  Strait. 


-f: 

,»       QI?  T 


SEPT.  1858.  FOUR  RIVER  POINT.  175 

blue  eastern  sea.  Long  and  anxiously  did  I  sur 
vey  the  western  sea,  ice,  and  lands,  and  could  not 
but  feel  that  in  all  probability  we  should  not  be 
permitted  to  pass  beyond  our  present  position. 

To  the  northward  Four  River  Point  —  Sir 
James  Ross'  farthest  in  1849 — was  at  once  rec 
ognized  ;  rather  more  than  nine  years  ago  I  stood 
upon  it  with  him,  and  gazed  almost  as  anxiously 
in  this  direction !  My  present  view  confirmed 
the  impression  then  received,  of  a  wide  channel 
leading  southward.  The  outline  of  the  western 
land  is  very  distant ;  it  is  of  considerable  but  uni 
form  elevation,  and  slopes  gradually  down  to  the 
strait,  which  is  between  30  and  40  miles  wide. 
This  western  land  appears  to  be  limestone,  and 
without  off-lying  islands.  Our  side  of  the  strait  or 
sea,  on  the  contrary,  is  primary  rock,  and  fringed 
with  islets  and  rocks ;  its  southern  extreme  bears 
S.S.W.,  and  is  probably  30  miles  distant. 

Now  for  the  ice.  Although  broken  up,  it  lies 
against  this  shore  in  immense  fields :  there  is  but 
little  water  or  room  for  ice-movement.  Along 
the  west  shore  I  can  distinguish  long  faint  streaks 
of  water.  There  is  no  appearance  of  disruption 
about  Four  River  Point  or  in  the  contracted  part 
of  Peel  Strait  —  we  have  nothing  to  hope  for  in 
that  quarter ;  neither  is  there  any  evidence  of 
current  or  pressure;  the  ice  appears  much  de 
cayed,  but,  as  I  am  surveying  it  from  a  height  of 
about  1600  feet,  I  may  be  deceived. 


176  CHEERLESS  STATE  OF  WESTERN  SEA.  CHAP.  X). 

The  strong  contrast  between  the  eastern  and 
western  seas  and  lands  is  very  unfavorable  to  the 
latter. 

Apart  from  the  ice,  I  was  fortunate,  however,  in 
discovering  a  long  narrow  lake,  occupying  a  val 
ley  which  lies  between  a  small  inlet  near  Cape 
Bird  and  Hazard  Inlet —  in  fact,  a  sort  of  echo  of 
Bellot  Strait  —  and  I  look  upon  it  as  our  sledge 
route  for  the  autumn,  since  it  appears  probable 
wre  shall  winter  in  our  present  position. 

This  is  a  ivondcrous  rough  country  to  scramble 
over  ;  one  never  ceases  to  wonder  how  such  huge 
blocks  of  rock  can  have  got  into  such  strange  po 
sitions.  I  noticed  two  masses  in  particular,  each 
of  them  perched  upon  three  small  stones.  The 
rock  is  gneiss ;  there  is  also  much  granite.  Even 
upon  the  hill-tops  pieces  of  limestone  are  occa 
sionally  met  with. 

My  walk  occupied  eleven  hours,  and,  although 
I  everywhere  saw  traces  of  animals,  the  only  liv 
ing  thing  seen  was  a  grey  falcon.  During  my 
absence  from  the  tent  the  men  rambled  all  over 
the  hills,  but  saw  no  game,  our  encampment  was 
therefore  shifted  to. a  better  position  near  the 
eastern  termination  of  the  table-land.  This  morn 
ing  we  explored  the  neighboring  valleys;  saw 
three  deer,  and  shot  one,  returning  on  board  the 
6  Fox '  in  time  for  dinner. 

Many  deer  had  been  seen  not  far  from  the 
ship,  and  Hobson  had  shot  a  bearded  seal.  I  have 


SEPI.  1858.      STRUGGLES  IN  BELLOT  STRAIT.  177 

organized  another  boat  party ;  Young  will  start 
with  it  to-morrow  morning  to  seek  a  sledge  route 
from  the  southern  angle  of  Brentford  Bay  to  the 
western  sea. 

5th.  — Young  returned  this  morning ;  he  reports 
the  south-west  angle  of  the  bay  not  to  run  in  so 
far  as  we  expected,  and  to  be  environed  by  very 
high  land,  impracticable  for  sledges. 

Our  Esquimaux,  Samuel,  shot  a  fawn  to-day. 

Strong  northerly  winds  have  latterly  prevailed ; 
Bellot  Strait  is  quite  clear  of  ice ;  to-morrow  morn 
ing,  therefore,  we  shall  make  our  fifth  attempt  to 
get  the  'Fox*  through. 

Wi. —  Steamed  through  the  clear  waters  of  Bel- 
lot  Strait  this  morning,  and  made  fast  to  the  ice 
across  its  western  outlet  at  a  distance  of  two  miles 
from  the  shore,  and  close  to  a  small  islet  which 
we  have  already  dubbed  Pemmican  Rock,  having 
landed  upon  it  a  large  supply  of  that  substantial 
traveller's  fare,  with  other  provisions  for  our  fu 
ture  sledging-parties.  This  ice  is  in  large  stout 
fields,  of  more  than  one  winter's  growth,  appar 
ently  immovable  in  consequence  of  the  numerous 
islets  and  rocks  which  rise  through  and  hold  it 
fast.  If  the  weather  permits,  we  shall  remain 
here  for  a  few  days  and  watch  the  effect  of  winds 
and  tides  upon  it ;  that  the  ship  will  get  any  fur 
ther  seems  improbable. 

10/&  —  I  have  explored  a  small  inlet  near  Cape 

Bird,  which  we  have  named  False  Strait,  from  its 

M 


178  CAPE  BIRD.  CHAP.  XL 

striking  resemblance  to  the  true  one,  and  find  it 
is  only  separated  from  the  long  lake  by  half  a 
mile  of  low  land ;  the  lake  we  have  ascertained 
to  be  about  12  miles  long,  and  from  it  valleys  ex 
tend  eastward  and  southward,  so  that  we  are  sure 
of  a  good  sledge-route, —  an  important  matter,  as 
the  hills  rise  to  1600  feet  above  the  sea. 

Cape  Bird  is  500  feet  high;  from  its  summit 
we  carefully  observe  the  ice.  This  granite  coast 
presents  a  jagged  appearance ;  it  is  deeply  in 
dented  and  studded  with  islets.  The  ice  in  the 
western  sea  (or  Peel's  Strait)  is  much  more  broken 
up  than  it  was  upon  the  31st  ultimo;  there  is  no 
longer  any  fixed  ice  except  within  the  grasp  of 
the  islets.  Birds  and  animals  have  become  very 
scarce;  three  seals  have  been  shot,  and  a  bear 
seen.  To-morrow  we  shall  return  to  our  harbor, 
and  endeavor  to  procure  a  few  more  reindeer  be 
fore  they  migrate  southward. 

12//2. —  Yesterday  we  anchored  within  the  en 
trance  of  our  creek,  being  a  more  convenient 
position  than  up  at  its  head.  We  are  already  in 
our  wintering  position,  and,  being  without  occu 
pation,  one  day  seems  most  remarkably  like 
another!  Although  the  fondly  cherished  hope 
of  pushing  farther  in  our  ship  can  no  longer  be 
entertained,  yet  as  long  as  the  season  continues 
navigable  it  is  our  duty  to  be  in  readiness  to  avail 
ourselves  of  any  opportunity,  however  improba 
ble,  of  being  able  to  do  so. 


E" 

SEPT.  1858         FALCONS  GOOD  ARCTIC  FARE.  179 

£lFC 

Once  firmly  frozen  in,  our  autumn  travelling 
will  commence,  and  afford  welcome  occupation. 
Almost  all  on  board  have  guns ;  ammunition  ia 
supplied,  and  a  sailor  with  a  musket  is  a  very  con 
tented  and  zealous  sportsman,  if  not  always  a 
successful  one ;  it  is  a  powerful  incentive  to  ex 
ercise.  To-day  the  ramblers  saw  only  two  hares, 
an  ermine,  and  an  owl.  Some  peregrine  falcons 
have  lately  been  shot ;  Petersen  declares  they 
are  "  the  best  beef  in  the  country,  and  the  young  birds 
tender  and  ivhite  as  chicken  !  " 

A  few  days  ago  a  large  cask  of  biscuit  was 
opened,  and  a  living  mouse  discovered  therein ! 
it  was  small,  but  mature  in  years.  The  cask,  a 
strong  watertight  one,  was  packed  on  shore  at 
Aberdeen,  in  June,  1857,  and  remained  ever  after 
wards  unopened;  there  was  no  hole  by  which  the 
mouse  could  have  got  in  or  out,  besides  it  is  the 
only  one  ever  seen  on  board.  Ship's  biscuit  is 
certainly  dry  feeding,  but  who  dares  assert,  after 
the  experience  of  our  mouse,  that  it  is  not  won 
derfully  nutritious  ? 

15/A. : — Two  nights  ago  a  comet  was  observed 
just  beneath  the  constellation  of  the  Great  Bear ; 
a  series  of  measurements  were  commenced  for  de 
termining  its  path.  Yesterday  I  walked  through 
the  most  promising  valleys  for  eight  hours,  but 
did  not  see  a  living  creature  ;  yet  there  is  a  very 
fair  show  of  vegetation,  much  more  than  at  Mel 
ville  Island,  where  the  game  is  abundant.  To  the 


180  PORT  KENNEDY.  CHAP.  XI. 

east  there  is  not  a  speck  of  ice,  excepting  only  a 
huge  iceberg,  probably  the  same  we  saw  off  Fury 
Point,  a  very  unusual  visitor  from  Baffin's  Bay, 
whence  it  must  have  been  driven  by  those  long- 
continued  east  winds  (of  painful  memory)  in  June 
and  July. 

Hobson  and  two  men  encamped  out  for  three 
days  in  order  to  scour  the  country ;  they  have 
only  seen  one  hare  and  one  lemming!  Walker 
geologizes ;  amongst  other  things  he  finds  much 
iron  pyrites.  The  dredge  has  been  used,  but  with 
very  little  success.  The  thermometer  ranges  be 
tween  20°  and  30°.  Fresh  water  pools  are  frozen 
over,  sea-ice  forms  in  every  sheltered  angle  of  the 
creeks.  There  is  no  snow  upon  the  land,  and  this 
is  one  cause  of  the  difficulty  of  finding  game. 

I  have  determined  upon  naming  this  beautiful 
little  anchorage  Port  Kennedy,  after  my  prede 
cessor,  the  discoverer  of  Bellot  Strait,  of  which 
it  is  decidedly  the  port.  This  is  not  a  compli 
ment  to  him,  but  an  agreeable  duty  to  me,  and 
nowhere  could  Mr.  Kennedy's  name  be  more 
appropriately  affixed  than  in  close  proximity 
with  his  interesting  discovery.  And  now  hav 
ing  made  this  acknowledgment,  I  may  venture 
to  confer  our  little  vessel's  name  upon  the  islets 
which  protect  its  entrance. 

The  island  upon  which  Mr.  Kennedy  and 
Lieutenant  Bellot  encamped  was  Long  Island, 
about  three  miles  further  to  the  south-east. 


SEPT.  1858.        FUTURE  SLEDGE  TRAVELLING.  181 

VI th.  —  Of  late  we  have  been  preparing  pro 
visions  and  equipments  for  our  travelling  parties. 
My  scheme  of  sledge  search  comprehends  three 
separate  routes  and  parties  of  four  men  ;  to  each 
party  a  dog-sledge  and  driver  will  be  attached ; 
Hobson,  Young,  and  I  will  lead  them. 

My  journey  will  be  to  the  Great  Fish  River, 
examining  the  shores  of  King  William's  Land 
in  going  and  returning;  Petersen  will  be  with 
me. 

Hobson  will  explore  the  western  coast  of 
Boothia  as  far  as  the  magnetic  pole,  this  au 
tumn,  I  hope,  and  from  Gateshead  Island  west 
ward  next  spring. 

Young  will  trace  the  shore  of  Prince  of  Wales1 
Land  from  Lieutenant  Browne's  farthest,  to  the 
south-westward  to  Osborn's  farthest,  if  possible, 
and  also  examine  between  Four  River  Point  and 
Cape  Bird. 

Our  probable  absence  will  be  sixty  or  seventy 
days,  commencing  from  about  the  20th  March. 

In  this  way  I  trust  we  shall  complete  the 
Franklin  search  and  the  geographical  discovery 
of  Arctic  America,  both  left  unfinished  by  the 
former  expeditions ;  and  in  so  doing  we  can 
hardly  fail  to  obtain  some  trace,  some  relic,  or, 
it  may  be,  important  records  of  those  whose 
mysterious  fate  it  is  the  great  object  of  our 
labors  to  discover.  But  previous  to  setting  forth 
upon  these  important  journeys,  I  must  communi- 
16 


182  STEAM  THROUGH  BELLOT  STRAIT.     CHAP.  XI 

cate  with  the  Boothians,  if  possible,  either  upon 
the  west  or  east  coast,  in  November  or  February. 
Sir  John  Ross'  '  Narrative '  informs  us  that  they 
sometimes  winter  as  far  north  upon  the  east  coast 
as  the  Agnew  River ;  and  we  know  that  upon  the 
west,  at  the  magnetic  pole,  their  abandoned  snow 
huts  were  occupied  in  June  by  Sir  James  Ross. 

19/A.  —  Yesterday  we  steamed  once  more 
through  Bellot  Strait,  and  took  up  our  former 
position  at  the  ice-edge,  off  its  western  entrance  ; 
the  ice,  hemmed  in  by  islets  has  not  moved. 

From  the  summit  of  Cape  Bird  I  had  a  very 
extensive  view  this  morning :  there  is  now  much 
water  in  the  offing,  only  separated  from  us  by 
the  belt  of  islet-girt  ice  scarcely  four  miles  in  width! 
My  conviction  is  that  a  strong  east  wind  would 
remove  this  remaining  barrier ;  it  is  not  yet  too 
late.  The  water  runs  parallel  to  this  coast,  and 
is  four  or  five  miles  broad ;  beyond  it  there  is  ice, 
but  it  appears  to  be  all  broken  up. 

Yesterday  Young  went  upon  a  dog-sledge  to 
the  nearest  south-western  island,  distant  7  or  8 
miles.  He  reports  the  intervening  ice  cracked 
and  weak  in  some  places,  but  practicable  for 
loaded  sledges ;  the  far  side  of  the  island  is 
washed  by  a  clear  sea,  and  a  bear  which  he  shot 
plunged  into  it,  and,  drifting  away,  was  lost. 
Young  is  in  favor  of  carrying  out  the  depot  pro 
visions  to  or  beyond  this  island  by  boat ;  hut  as 
the  temperature  fell  to  18°  last  night,  and  new 


SEPT.  1858.  HOBSON'S  PARTY  START.  183 

ice  forms  wherever  it  is  calm,  I  prefer  the  safer, 
although  more  laborious  mode  of  sledging;  ac 
cordingly  to-day  our  dogs  carried  out  two  sledge- 
loads  of  the  provisions  intended  for  the  use  of 
our  parties  hereafter. 

22nd.  —  All  the  provisions  have  now  been  car 
ried  out  to  the  nearest  island,  which  I  shall  tem 
porarily  name  Separation,  *  as  there  our  spring 
parties  will  divide ;  and  a  portion  intended  for 
Hobson's  party  and  my  own  has  been  carried  on 
to  the  next  island  7  or  8  miles  further.  Our 
travelling  boat  and  a  small  reserve  depot  have 
been  placed  upon  Pemmican  Rock,  so  already 
something  has  been  done.  Animal  life  is  very 
scarce ;  a  few  seals,  an  occasional  gull,  and  three 
brown  falcons,  are  the  only  creatures  we  have 
seen  for  several  days  past.  Last  evening  at  eight 
o'clock  a  very  vivid  flash  of  lightning  was  ob 
served  ;  its  appearance  in  these  latitudes  is  very 
rare  ;  once  only  have  I  seen  it  before  —  in  Sep 
tember,  1850. 

25/& —  Saturday  night.  Furious  gales  from 
N.  and  S.W.,  but  our  barrier  of  coast-ice  remains 
undiminished.  This  morning  Hobson  set  off  upon 
a  journey  of  fourteen  or  fifteen  days'  duration, 
with  seven  men  and  fourteen  dogs ;  he  is  to  ad 
vance  the  depots  along  shore  to  the  south,  and  if 
successful  will  reach  latitude  71°. 


*  Subsequently  named  after  my  excellent  friend  A.  Arcedeckne,  Esq., 
Commodore  of  the  Royal  London  Yacht  Club. 


184  WINTER  QUARTERS.  CHAP.  XL 

The  temperature  is  mild  (-J-  17),  but  it  is  snowy 
and  disagreeable  weather ;  there  is  already  enough 
snow  upon  the  old  ice  to  make  walking  laborious, 
and  the  land  has  also  assumed  its  wintry  com 
plexion. 

28tfA.  — -The  ship  was  kept  available  for  prose 
cuting  her  voyage  up  to  the  latest  hour ;  it  was 
only  yesterday  that  we  left  the  western  ice,  and 
in  consequence  of  the  vast  accumulation  of  young 
ice  in  Bellot  Strait  we  had  considerable  difficulty 
in  reaching  the  entrance  of  Port  Kennedy:  all 
within  was  so  firmly  frozen  over  that  after  three 
hours'  steaming  and  working  we  only  penetrated 
100  yards;  however,  we  are  in  an  excellent  posi 
tion,  although  our  wintering  place  will  be  farther 
out  by  a  quarter  of  a  mile  than  I  intended. 

To-day  we  are  unbending  sails  and  laying  up 
the  engines —  uncertainty  no  longer  exists  —  here 
we  are  compelled  to  remain ;  and  if  we  have  not 
been  as  successful  in  our  voyaging  as  a  month 
ago  we  had  good  reason  to  expect,  we  may  still 
hope  that  Fortune  will  smile  upon  our  more  hum 
ble,  yet  more  arduous,  pedestrian  explorations  — 
"  Hope  on,  hope  ever."  In  the  mean  time  the 
sudden  transition,  from  mental  and  physical  wear 
and  tear,  to  the  security  and  quiet  of  winter  quar 
ters,  is  an  immense  relief. 

2nd  Oct.  —  M.  Petersen  has  shot  two  very  fine 
bucks  ;  one  is  a  magnificent  fellow,  weighing  354 
Ibs.  (minus  the  paunch).  Several  deer  have  been 


OCT.  1858.  ERMINE  HUNT.  185 

seen ;  they  come  from  the  N.  along  the  slopes  of 
the  eastern  hills.  An  ermine  came  on  board  a  few 
nights  ago  and  kept  the  dogs  in  a  violent  state  of 
excitement,  being  much  too  wary  to  come  out 
from  under  the  boat  to  be  caught  by  them ;  at 
length  one  of  the  men  secured  it.  This  beautiful 
little  animal  does  not  appear  to  be  full  grown ;  its 
extreme  length  is  13  inches.  Two  others  came 
off  to  the  ship,  and  to  our  great  amusement  eluded 
the  men  who  gave  chase,  by  darting  into  the  soft 
snow —  which  is  now  a  foot  deep — and  re-appear 
ing  several  yards  off. 

The  weather  is  too  mild  to  satisfy  us  ;  we  wish 
for  severe  frost  to  seal  us  up  securely,  and  make 
the  ice  strong  enough  to  bear  the  sledge-loads  of 
provisions,  etc.,  which  are  to  be  landed  for  the 
purpose  of  making  more  room  in  the  ship. 

Gth.  —  A  herd  of  a  dozen  reindeer  crossed  the 
harbor  to-day.  Last  night  Hobson  and  his  com 
panions  returned,  all  well.  They  were  stopped 
by  the  sea  washing  against  the  cliffs  in  latitude 
7 1.2°,  and  to  that  point  they  have  advanced 
the  depots.  Although  the  weather  has  been 
stormy  here,  they  have  been  able  to  travel  every 
day.  They  found  the  coast  still  fringed  with 
islets,  and  deeply  indented ;  upon  every  point, 
moss-grown  circles  of  stones  indicated  the  abodes 
of  Esquimaux  in  times  long  since  gone  by. 

One  night  they  muzzled  a  dog,  as  she  was  in 
the  habit  of  gnawing  her  harness  :  in  this  defence- 
16* 


186  IIOBSON'S  PARTY  RETURNED.          CHAP.  XI. 

less  state,  unable  even  to  bark  and  arouse  the 
men,  her  amiable  sisterhood  attacked  her  so  fiercely 
that  she  died  next  day ! 

In  honor  of  so  important  and  successful  a  com 
mencement  of  our  travelling,  as  that  accomplished 
by  Ilobson,  we  had  a  feast  of  good  venison,  plum 
pudding,  and  grog.  It  is  quite  evident  that  no 
more  travelling  can  be  accomplished  until  the  ice 
forms  a  pathway  alongshore  ;  in  this,  as  in  some 
other  respects,  we  anxiously  await  the  advance  of 
the  season.  The  weather  is  mild  ;  Bellot  Strait  is 
almost  covered  with  ice,  which  drifts  freely  with 
every  tide.  Reindeer  are  seen  almost  daily ;  they 
too  are  awaiting  the  freezing  over  of  the  sea  to 
continue  their  southern  travels.  Our  harbor-ice 
is  weak  and  covered  a  foot  deep  with  a  sludgy 
compound  of  snow  and  water. 

8th. —  Yesterday  an  ermine  was  caught  in  a 
trap  ;  hitherto  these  most  active  little  skirmishers 
have  successfully  robbed  our  fox-traps  of  their 
baits  as  fast  as  they  could  be  renewed.  To-day 
Petersen  shot  another  reindeer;  it  weighs  130  Ibs.; 
many  others  were  seen,  also  a  wolf.  Sometimes 
a  few  ptarmigan  are  met  with,  but  hares  very 
rarely. 

\Wi.  —  Fine  weather  generally  prevails.  We 
have  landed  about  100  casks,  all  our  boats,  and 
much  lumber,  so  we  shall  have  abundance  of  room 
on  board.  I  enjoyed  a  long  and  exhilarating  ram 
ble  upon  snow-shoes  to-day;  without  them  I  could 


OCT.  1858.  FREQUENT  GALES.  187 

not  have  gone  over  half  the  distance  —  the  snow 
lies  so  deep  and  soft  —  but  I  only  saw  one  rein 
deer. 

Uth.  —  One  of  our  magnetic  observatories  has 
been  built ;  it  stands  upon  the  ice,  210  yards  S. 
(magnetic)  from  the  ship,  and  is  built  of  ice  sawed 
into  blocks  —  there  not  being  any  suitable  snow; 
it  is  just  large  enough  to  hold  the  declinometer 
for  hourly  observations,  to  be  noted  throughout 
the  winter.  The  housings  have  been  put  over  the 
ship  already,  as  Hobson  will  leave  us  again  in  a 
few  days  to  advance  his  depot  and  my  own  to  the 
vicinity  of  the  magnetic  pole  if  possible.  I  would 
also  send  Young  upon  a  similar  duty,  but  the 
western  sea  cannot  have  frozen  over  yet. 

IWi.  —  All  the  17th  a  N.W.  gale  blew  with 
fearful  violence  ;  yesterday  it  abated,  but  not  suf 
ficiently  to  allow  our  party  to  start.  This  morn 
ing  Hobson  got  away  with  his  nine  men  and  ten 
dogs ;  his  absence  may  be  from  eighteen  to  twen 
ty  days.  Autumn  travelling  is  most  disagreeable; 
there  is  so  much  wind  and  snow,  the  latter  being 
soft,  deep,  and  often  wet ;  the  sun  is  almost  al 
ways  obscured  by  mist,  and  is  powerless  for 
warmth  or  drying  purposes,  and  the  temperature 
is  vary  variable.  Moreover  there  are  now  only 
eight  hours  of  misty  daylight.  To-day  the  morn 
ing  was  fine,  and  temperature  -(-8°.  Having 
completed  the  preliminary  observations  of  the 
times  of  horizontal  and  vertical  vibrations,  also 


188  ANOTHER  OBSERVATORY  BUILT.       CHAP.  XI. 

of  the  magnetic  intensity,  I  set  up  to-day  the 
declinometer,  and  commenced  the  hourly  series 
of  observations  on  the  diurnal  variation.  I  trust 
it  may  continue  unbroken  until  we  all  set  out 
upon  our  spring  travels  in  March.  A  hare  has 
been  shot,  but  no  other  animals  seen. 

2Wi. — It  generally  blows  a  gale  of  wind  here; 
the  only  advantage  in  return  for  so  much  discom 
fort  is  that  the  snow  is  the  more  quickly  packed 
hard.  As  we  have  only  three  working  men  and 
an  Esquimaux  left  on  board  for  ship's  duties,  I  was 
assisted  a  few  days  ago  by  the  doctor,  the  engi 
neer,  and  the  interpreter,  in  building  another  ob 
servatory,  intended  for  certain  monthly  magnetic 
observations.  This  edifice  is  constructed  of  snow. 
Whenever  we  have  a  calm  night  we  can  hear  the 
crushing  sound  of  the  drift-ice  in  Bellot  Strait, 
which  continues  open  to  within  500  yards  of  the 
Fox  Islands,  and  emits  dark  chilling  clouds  of 
hateful,  pestilent,  abominable  mist. 

The  last  two  days  have  been  very  fine  and 
calm :  the  men  visited  their  fox  and  ermine  traps, 
which  are  secreted  amongst  the  rocks  in  a  most 
mysterious  manner  —  one  ermine  only  has  been 
taken.  Seven  or  eight  reindeer  and  some  ptarmi 
gan  were  seen ;  two  of  the  latter  and  a  hare  were 
shot.  We  have  commenced  brewing  sugar  beer. 

2nd  Nov.  — Very  dull  times.  No  amount  of  in 
genuity  could  make  a  diary  worth  the  paper  it 
is  written  on.  An  occasional  raven  flies  past,  a 


Interior  of  the  Observatory. 


Nov.  1858.  NARROW  ESCAPE.  189 

couple  more  ptarmigan  have  been  shot :  another 
N.W.  gale  is  blowing,  with  temperature  down 
to  -12°. 

Wi.  — Saturday  Night.  The  N.W.  gale  blew 
without  intermission  for  seventy  hours,  the  tem 
perature  being  about  -15° :  we  hoped  that  our 
absent  shipmates  might  be  housed  safely  in  snow 
huts.  This  afternoon  all  doubts  respecting  them 
were  dispelled  by  their  arrival  in  good  health,  but 
they  evidently  have  suffered  from  cold  and  ex 
posure  during  their  absence  of  nineteen  days. 
For  the  first  six  days  they  journeyed  outward  suc 
cessfully  ;  on  that  night  they  encamped  upon  the 
ice ;  it  was  at  spring-tide,  a  N.E.  gale  sprang  up, 
and  blowing  off  shore  detached  the  ice  and  drifted 
them  off!  The  sea  froze  over  on  the  cessation 
of  the  gale,  and  two  days  afterwards  they  fortu 
nately  regained  the  land  near  the  position  from 
which  they  were  blown  off;  they  have  indeed 
experienced  much  unusual  danger  and  suffering 
from  cold. 

As  soon  as  they  discovered  that  the  ice  was 
drifting  off  shore  with  them,  they  packed  their 
sledges,  harnessed  their  dogs,  and  passed  the  night 
in  anxious  watching  for  some  chance  to  escape. 
When  the  ice  got  a  little  distance  off  shore,  it 
broke  up  under  the  influence  of  the  wind  and  sea, 
until  the  piece  they  *were  upon  was  scarce  20 
yards  in  diameter ;  this  drifted  across  the  mouth 


190  ADVANCED  DEPOTS.  CHAP.  XL 

of  a  wide  inlet  *  until  brought  up  against  the  op 
posite  shore.  The  gale  was  quickly  followed  by 
an  intense  frost,  which  in  a  single  night  formed 
ice  sufficiently  strong  to  bear  them  in  safety  to 
the  land,  although  it  bent  fearfully  beneath  their 
weight. 

The  depots  were  eventually  established  in  lati 
tude  71° ;  beyond  this  Lieutenant  Ilobson  did  not 
attempt  to  advance,  not  only  because  their  re 
maining  provisions  would  not  have  warranted  a 
longer  absence,  but  because  the  open  sea  was  seen 
to  beat  against  the  next  headland.  They  have 
lived  in  tents  only,  and  have  not  experienced 
the  heavy  gales  so  frequent  here,  and  which  are 
probably  due  mainly  to  our  position  in  Bellot 
Strait,  which  performs  the  part  of  a  funnel  for 
both  winds  and  tides  between  the  two  seas. 

That  the  western  sea  should  still  remain  open 
argues  a  vast  space  southward  for  the  escape  of 
the  ice,  and  prevents  our  western  party  from  car 
rying  across  their  depot:  the  attempt  to  do  so 
would  be  extremely  hazardous.  We  must  only 
be  stiring  earlier  in  the  spring.  I  am  truly 
thankful  for  the  safe  return  of  our  travellers, — 
all  this  toil  and  exposure  of  ten  persons  and  ten 
dogs  has  only  advanced  the  depots  30  miles  fur- 

*  Named  after  Lord  Wrottesley,  in  remembrance  of  the  support  given  l>y 
him  to  the  expedition,  his  advocacy  of  it  in  the  House  of  Lords,  and  of 
the  facilities  granted  me  by  the  Royal  Society  —  of  which  he  was  Presi 
dent —  for  the  pursuit  of  scientific  observations. 


Nov.  1858.  EFFECT  OF  GALES.  191 

ther  —  i.e.  from  60  to  90  miles  distant  from  the 
ship. 

Hardly  a  particle  of  snow  remains  upon  the 
harbor-ice,  the  recent  gales  having  swept  it  away ; 
and  the  porch  of  my  snow-hut  has  been  fretted 
away  to  a  mere  cobweb  by  the  attrition  of  the 
snow-drift:  the  doctor  and  I  rebuilt  it  to-day. 
Three  reindeer  and  a  wolf  have  been  seen. 


192  DEATH  OF  OUK  ENGINEER.  CHAP.  XII 


CHAPTER    XII 

Death  of  our  engineer — Scarcity  of  game — The  cold  unusally  trying — 
Jolly,  under  adverse  circumstances — Petersen's  information — Return 
of  the  sun  of  1859 — Early  spring  sledge  parties — Unusual  severity  of 
the  winter — Severe  hardships  of  early  sledging — The  western  shores 
of  Boothia — Meet  the  Esquimaux — Intelligence  of  Franklin's  ships- 
Return  to  the  '  Fox  ' — Allen  Young  returns. 

Nov.  1th.  —  Sunday  evening.  —  BRIEF  as  is  the  inter 
val  since  my  last  entry,  yet  how  awful,  and,  to 
one  of  our  small  company,  how  fatal  it  has  been ! 
Yesterday  Mr.  Brand  was  out  shooting  as  usual, 
and  in  robust  health ;  in  the  evening  Hobson  sat 
with  him  for  a  little  time.  Mr.  Brand  turned  the 
conversation  upon  our  position  and  employments 
last  year ;  he  called  to  remembrance  poor  Robert 
Scott,  then  in  sound  health,  and  the  fact  of  his 
having  carried  our  "  Guy  Fawkes  "  round  the  ship 
on  the  preceding  day  twelvemonth,  and  added 
mournfully,  "  Poor  fellow !  no  one  knows  whose 
turn  it  may  be  to  go  next."  He  finished  his 
evening  pipe,  and  shut  his  cabin  door  shortly 
after  nine  o'clock.  This  morning,  at  seven  o'clock, 
his  servant  found  him  lying  upon  the  deck,  a 
corpse,  having  been  several  hours  dead.  Apo 
plexy  appears  to  have  been  the  cause.  He  was  a 
steady,  serious  man,  under  forty  years  of  age,  and 


Nov.  1858.  THE  FUNERAL.  193 

leaves  a  widow  and  three  or  four  children  ;  what 
their  circumstances  are  I  am  not  aware. 

10//4. — This  morning  the  remains  of  Mr.  Brand, 
inclosed  in  a  neat  coffin,  were  buried  in  a  grave 
on  shore.  A  suitable  headboard  and  inscription 
will  be  placed  over  it.  From  all  that  I  have 
gathered,  it  appears  that  his  mind  had  been  some 
what  gloomy  for  the  last  few  days,  dwelling  much 
upon  poor  Scott's  sudden  death.  Whether  he 
really  saw  three  reindeer  on  Saturday,  watched 
their  movements,  and  fired  his  Minie  rifle  at  them 
when  700  yards  distant,  or  whether  it  was  the 
creation  of  a  disordered  brain,  none  can  tell.  On 
his  first  return  on  board  he  said  he  had  seen  deer 
tracks  only. 

We  are  now  without  either  engineer  or  engine- 
driver  :  we  have  only  two  stokers,  and  they  know 
nothing  about  the  machinery.  Our  numbers  are 
reduced  to  twenty-four,  including  our  interpreter 
and  two  Greenland  Esquimaux. 

15^. — We  have  enjoyed  ten  days  of  moderate 
winds  and  calms,  but  the  temperatiire  has  fallen 
as  low  as  —31°.  This  causes  frost-cracks  in  the  ice 
across  the  harbor;  they  will  freeze  over,  and  others 
will  form,  and  gape,  and  freeze  at  intervals,  so  that 
by  next  spring  we  shall  probably  be  moved  sev 
eral  inches,  perhaps  feet,  off  shore. 

Mists  have  obscured  the  sun  of  late,  and  now 
it  does  not  rise  at  all.  We  are  indifferent ;  its  de- 
17  N 


194  SCARCITY  OF  GAME.  CHAP  XI3 

part ure  has  become  to  us  a  matter  of  course. 
The  usual  winter  covering  of  snow  has  been 
spread  upon  deck  rather  more  than  a  foot  thick. 
Its  utility  in  preventing  the  escape  of  heat  be 
came  at  once  strikingly  apparent.  Nothing  has 
been  seen  but  a  few  ptarmigan  and  one  reindeer, 
which  trotted  off  towards  the  ship.  Our  bullets 
missed  him,  and  the  dogs  unfortunately  caught 
sight  and  chased  him  away.  I  do  not  think  any 
dogs  could  overtake  a  reindeer  in  this  rough 
country;  the  rocks  would  speedily  lame  them, 
and  the  snow,  in  many  places,  is  quite  deep 
enough  to  fatigue  them  greatly,  whereas  it  offers 
but  slight  impediment  to  the  deer,  furnished  as  he 
is  with  long  legs  and  spreading  hoofs. 

29tVj.  —  Animals  have  become  very  scarce.  A 
few  ptarmigan  and  willow-grouse  have  been  seen, 
and  three  shot.  Two  days  ago  I  saw  two  rein 
deer.  The  eastern  sea  is  frozen  over,  and  our  old 
acquaintance  the  iceberg  in  Prince  Regent's  Inlet 
is  still  visible  on  a  clear  day.  We  brew  sugar- 
beer,  and  we  set  nets  for  seals,  but  catch  none. 
The  nets  have  been  made  and  set  in  favorable 
positions  under  the  ice  by  the  Greenlanders,  so  we 
suppose  the  seals  also  have  migrated  elsewhere ; 
if  so,  the  Esquimaux  could  not  winter  here.  We 
have  no  regular  school  this  winter,  but  five  of  the 
men  study  navigation  every  evening  under  the 
guidance  of  Young.  Hobson  and  I  are  doing  all 


DEC.  1858.  SEVERE  WEATHER.  195 

we  can  to  make  the  ship  dry,  warm,  and  comfort 
able  :  our  large  snow  porches  over  the  hatchways 
are  a  great  improvement. 

Wi  Dec.  —  Cold,  windy  weather,  with  chilling 
mists  from  the  open  water  in  Bellot  Strait.  We 
can  seldom  leave  the  shelter  of  the  ship  for  a 
walk  on  shore,  and,  when  we  do,  rarely  see  even 
a  ptarmigan. 

12/A.  —  Very  cold  weather :  thermometer  down 
to  -41°,  and  the  breeze  comes  to  us  loaded  with 
mist  from  the  open  water,  causing  the  air  to  feel 
colder  than  it  otherwise  would.  Bellot  Strait  has 
become  a  nuisance,  not  only  from  this  cause,  but, 
from  the  strong  winds  —  purely  local  —  which 
seldom  cease  to  blow  through  it. 

The  seal  nets  have  produced  nothing;  and  as 
there  are  no  seals,  we  no  longer  wonder  at  not 
•  seeing  bears.  Three  foxes  have  been  trapped  and 
a  hare  seen.  Our  canine  force  numbers  twenty- 
four  serviceable  dogs  and  six  puppies ;  but  these, 
1  fear,  will  not  be  strong  enough  for  sledging  by 
March.  The  monotony  of  our  lives  is  vastly  in 
creased  by  want  of  occupation,  and  confinement, 
by  severe  gales,  to  the  ship  for  five  days  out 
of  every  seven.  The  general  health  is  good, 
but  there  is  a  natural  craving  for  fresh  meat  and 
fresh  vegetables — in  great  measure,  perhaps, 
because  they  cannot  be  obtained ;  but  a  well- 
filled  letter-bag  would  be  more  welcome  than 
anything  I  know  of. 


196  COLD  UNUSUALLY  TRYING.  CHAP.  XIl 

26/7*.  —  Upon  four  days  only  during  the  last 
fourteen  has  the  weather  permitted  us  to  walk. 
I  allude  to  the  wind  as  the  obstacle  to  our  exer 
cise  ;  for  temperature,  when  the  air  is  still,  is  no 
bar  to  any  reasonable  amount  of  it.  Three  or 
four  coveys  of  ptarmigan  have  been  seen,  and  of 
these  I  shot  one  brace.  The  cold  increases : 
thermometer  has  fallen  to  -472°,  although  blow 
ing  a  moderate  gale  at  the  time,  and  the  atmos 
phere  dense  with  mist. 

Our  Christmas  has  been  spent  with  a  degree  of 
loyalty  to  the  good  old  English  custom  at  once 
spirited  and  refreshing.  All  the  good  things 
which  could  possibly  be  collected  together  ap 
peared  upon  the  snow-white  deal  tables  of  the 
men,  as  the  officers  and  myself  walked  (by  invi 
tation)  round  the  lower  deck.  Venison,  beer, 
and  a  fresh  stock  of  clay  pipes,  appeared  to  be 
the  most  prized  luxuries;  but  the  variety  and 
abundance  of  the  eatables,  tastefully  laid  out,  was 
such  as  might  well  support  the  delusion  which  all 
seemed  desirous  of  imposing  upon  themselves  — 
that  they  were  in  a  land  of  plenty  —  in  fact,  all 
but  at  home  !  We  contributed  a  large  cheese  and 
some  preserves,  and  candles  superseded  the  ordi 
nary  smoky  lamps.  With  so  many  comforts,  and 
the  existence  of  so  much  genuine  good  feeling, 
their  evening  was  a  joyous  one,  enlivened  also  by 
songs  and  music. 

Whilst  all  was  order  and  merriment  within  the 


JAN.  1859  NEW  YEAR'S  DAY.  197 

ship,  the  scene  without  was  widely  different.  A 
fierce  north-wester  howled  loudly  through  the 
rigging,  the  snow-drift  rustled  swiftly  past,  no 
star  appeared  through  the  oppressive  gloom,  and 
the  thermometer  varied  between  76°  and  80°  beloiv 
the  freezing  point.  At  one  time  it  was  impossible 
to  visit  the  magnetic  observatory,  although  only 
210  yards  distant,  and  with  a  rope  stretched  along, 
breast  high,  upon  poles  the  whole  way.  The  offi 
cers  discharged  this  duty  for  the  quarter-masters 
of  the  watches  during  the  day  and  night. 

1st  Jan.  1859.  —  This  being  Saturday  night  as 
well  as  New  Year's  Day,  "  Sweethearts  and  Wives  " 
were  remembered  with  even  more  than  the  ordi 
nary  feeling.  New  year's  eve  was  celebrated  with 
all  the  joyfulness  which  ardent  hope  can  inspire  : 
and  we  Jiave  reasonable  ground  for  strong  hope.  At 
midnight  the  expiration  of  the  old  year  and  com 
mencement  of  the  new  one  was  announced  to  me 
by  the  band — flutes,  accordion,  and  gong  —  strik 
ing  up  at  my  door.  Some  songs  were  sung,  and 
the  performance  concluded  with  "  God  save  the 
Queen ; "  the  few  who  could  find  space  in  our 
mess-room  sang  the  chorus ;  but  this  by  no  means 
satisfied  all  the  others  who  were  without  and  una 
ble  to  show  themselves  to  the  officers,  so  they 
echoed  the  chorus,  and  the  effect  was  very  pleas 
ing.  Our  new  year's  day  has  been  commemo 
rated  with  all  the  substantial  of  Christmas  fare, 
bu/  without  so  much  display, —  less  tailoring  in 
17* 


198  INTENSE  COLD.  CHAP  XII. 

pastry,  not  quite  so  much  clipping  of  dough  into 
roses,  and  anchors,  and  nondescript  animals,  &c., 
&c.  The  past  week  has  been  cold  and  stormy ; 
it  now  blows  strong,  and  the  temperature  is  -44°. 

On  the  29th  a  few  fresh  tracks  of  animals  and 
a  ptarmigan  were  seen  :  yesterday  I  saw  three 
ptarmigan.  December  proved  to  be  an  unusually 
cold  month,  its  mean  temperature  being  -33° ; 
and  it  was  rendered  more  than  ordinarily  dark 
and  gloomy  by  continual  mists  from  Bellot  Strait. 
This  open  water  adds  seriously  to  the  drawbacks 
of  a  spot  already  sufficiently  cheerless,  gameless, 
and  "  wind-loved." 

Wi. —  Another  week  of  uniform  temperature 
of  -40°,  and  confinement  to  the  ship  by  strong 
winds ;  the  atmosphere  is  loaded  with  enveloping 
mists  which  impart  a  raw  and  surprisingly  keen 
edge  to  the  chilling  blasts,  blasts  that  no  human 
nose  can  endure  without  blanching,  be  its  propor 
tions  what  they  may.  It  is  wonderful  how  the 
dogs  stand  it,  and  without  apparent  inconvenience, 
unless  their  fur  happen  to  be  thin.  They  lie  upon 
the  snow  under  the  lee  of  the  ship,  with  no  other 
protection  from  the  weather. 

To-day,  the  winds  being  light  and  temperature 
up  to  -30°,  we  enjoyed  walks  on  shore,  although 
the  mist  continued  so  dense  as  to  limit  our  view 
to  a  couple  of  hundred  yards. 

I  learn  from  Petersen  that  the  natives  of  Smith's 
Sound  are  well  acquainted  with  the  continuation 


JAN.  1859.  PETERSEN'S  INFORMATION.  193 

of  its  shores  considerably  beyond  the  farthest 
point  reached  by  Kane's  exploring  parties,  but 
unfortunately  no  one  thought  of  getting  them 
to  delineate  their  local  knowledge  upon  paper. 
They  spoke  much  of  a  large  island  near  the  west 
coast  called  "  Urningmak  "  (musk  ox)  Island, 
where  there  was  much  open  water,  abounding 
with  walrus,  and  where  some  of  their  people 
formerly  lived.* 

Esquimaux  exist  upon  the  east  coast  of  Green 
land  as  far  north  as  lat.  76°;  how  much  farther 
north  is  not  known.  They  are  separated  from  the 
South  Greenlanders  by  hundreds  of  miles  of  ice 
bound  coasts  and  impassable  glaciers. 

Many  centuries  ago  a  milder  climate  may  and 
probably  did  exist,  and  a  corresponding  modifica 
tion  of  glacier  and  a  sea  less  ice-encumbered  might 
have  rendered  the  migration  of  these  poor  people 
from  the  south  to  their  present  isolated  abodes 
practicable  ;  but  to  me  it  appears  much  more  easy 
to  suppose  that  they  migrated  eastward  from  the 
northern  outlet  of  Smith's  Sound. 

21st.  —  More  pleasant  weather  since  my  last 
entry ;  and  although  last  night  the  temperature 
fell  to  -47°,  yet  it  has  generally  been  mild  ;  once 
it  rose  to  -14°,  but  amply  made  amends  by  falling 
to  -38°  within  twelve  hours.  We  have  enjoyed 

*  Peterson  conversed  with  two  men  who  had  themselves  been  up  to 
Umingmak  Island. 


200  RETURN  OF  THE  SUN,  1859.  CHAP.  XII 

much  of  the  moon's  presence  for  the  last  ten  days, 
but  now  she  is  waning  and  hastening  away  to  the 
south.  Daylight  increases  in  strength  and  dura 
tion,  consequently  we  walk  more,  and  see  more, 
and  the  winter's  gloom  gives  place  to  activity  and 
cheerfulness.  Several  ptarmigan,  three  or  four 
hares,  a  snowy  owl,  and  a  bear-track,  have  at 
various  times  been  seen.  Young  has  shot  four 
ptarmigan,  and  I  have  shot  a  couple  more  and  a 
hare,  and  the  men  have  trapped  two  foxes. 

On  board  the  ship  the  preparations  for  travelling 
take  precedence  of  all  other  occupations. 

26//J. —  Part  of  the  sun's  disc  loomed  above  the 
horizon  to-day,  somewhat  swollen  and  disfigured 
by  the  misty  atmosphere,  but  looking  benevolent 
withal.  I  happened  to  be  diligently  traversing 
the  rocky  hill-sides  in  the  hope  of  finding  some 
solitary  hare  dozing  in  fancied  security,  when  the 
sun  thus  appeared  in  view,  and  halted  to  feast  my 
eyes  upon  the  glorious  sight,  and  scan  the  features 
of  our  returning  friend.  Hope  and  promise  min 
gled  in  his  bright  beams.  Again  I  moved  upward, 
and  with  more  elastic  step ;  for  now  the  sun  of 
1859  was  shining  upon  all  nature  around  me. 

2nd  February.  —  A  lovely,  calm,  bright  day,  and 
beautifully  clear,  except  over  the  waterspace  in 
Bellot  Strait,  where  rests  a  densely  black  mist, 
very  strongly  resembling  the  West  Indian  raiii- 
squall  as  it  looms  upon  the  distant  horizon.  TL« 


FEB.  1859.      EARLY  SPRING  SLEDGE  PARTIES.  201 

increasing  sunlight  is  cheering,  but  void  of  heat, 
and  the  mercury  is  often  frozen.  A  few  more 
ptarmigan  have  been  shot. 

Our  remaining  serviceable  dogs,  twenty-two  in 
number,  have  been  divided  with  great  care  into 
three  teams  of  seven  each ;  the  odd  dog  is  added 
to  my  team,  as  my  journey  is  expected  to  be  the 
longest.  The  different  sledge-parties  will  now 
feed  up  their  dogs  without  limit,  so  that  the 
utmost  degree  of  work  may  be  got  out  of  them 
hereafter. 

January  has  been  slightly  colder  than  Decem 
ber,  mean  t  jmperature  being  -33i°,  but  there  has 
been  rathe  less  wind. 

8th.  —  A  (1  will  be  ready  for  the  departure  of 
Young  and  myself  upon  our  respective  journeys 
upon  the  morning  of  the  14th. 

Mr.  Petersen  and  Alexander  Thompson  accom 
pany  me,  with  two  dog-sledges,  and  fifteen  dogs, 
dragging  twenty-four  days'  provisions.  My  object 
is  to  communicate  with  the  Boothians  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  magnetic  pole.  Young  takes  his 
party  of  four  men  and  his  dog-sledge ;  he  will 
carry  forward  provisions  for  his  spring  exploration 
of  the  shores  of  Prince  of  Wales'  Land,  between 
the  extreme  points  reached  by  Lieutenants  Osborn 
and  Brown  in  1851. 

On  the  3d  I  walked  for  seven  and  a  half  hours, 
and  saw  two  reindeer,  but  could  not  approach 
within  shot.  Young  examined  the  water-space  in 


202  ATTACK  OF  SCURVY.  CHAP.  XIL 

the  strait,  and  finds  it  washes  both  shores,  but  ex 
tends  east  and  west  only  about  one  mile.  The 
Doctor  has  seen  a  seal  and  a  dovekie  sporting 
in  it. 

For  the  last  four  days  strong  winds  and  intense 
cold  have  prevented  us  from  rambling  over  tie 
hills,  besides  which  the  minor  preparations  for 
travelling  have  given  us  more  occupation  on 
board. 

James  Pitcher  has  got  a  slight  touch  of  scur 
vy  ;  his  gums  are  inflamed ;  and  now  it  comes 
out  that  he  dislikes  preserved  meats,  and  has  not 
eaten  any  since  he  has  been  in  the  ship  !  He  has 
lived  upon  salt  meat  and  preserved  vegetables, 
except  for  the  very  short  periods  in  summer  when 
birds  could  be  obtained.  He  is  rather  a  "  used-up" 
old  fellow,  too  much  so  for  our  severe  sledge-work, 
therefore  is  one  of  the  few  who  will  remain  to 
take  care  of  the  ship.  That  he  should  have  re 
tained  his  health  for  seventeen  months,  under  the 
circumstances,  speaks  well  for  the  wholesomeness 
and  quality  of  our  provisions,  and  the  ventilation 
and  cleanliness  of  the  ship. 

10//J.  —  Extremely  cold,  with  dense  mists  from 
the  open  water.  Yesterday  eight  ptarmigan  and 
a  sooty  fox  were  seen.  We  have  consumed  the 
last  of  our  venison  ;  it  supplied  us  for  three  days. 
We  are  drinking  out  a  cask  of  sugar-beer,  which 
is  a  very  mild  but  agreeable  beverage ;  we  make 
it  on  board. 


FEB.  1859.       UNUSUALLY  SEVEKE  WEATHER.  203 

Sunday  night,  13/&  — To-morrow  morning,  if  fine, 
Young  and  I  set  off  upon  our  travels.  He  has 
advanced  a  portion  of  his  sledge-load  to  the  west 
side  of  the  water  in  Bellot  Strait,  having  been 
obliged  to  carry  it  overland  for  about  a  mile  in 
order  to  get  there.  I  have  explored  the  route  to 
the  long  lake,  and  find  we  can  reach  it  without 
crossing  elevated  or  uncovered  land.  I  saw  two 
reindeer,  and  Young  saw  about  twenty  ptarmi 


gan. 


The  mean  temperature  of  February  up  to  this 
date  is  —  33*2°,  being  an  exact  continuation  of 
January.  I  confess  to  some  anxiety  upon  this 
point,  as  hitherto  the  winter  has  been  unusually 
severe,  and  the  journeys  to  be  performed  will 
occupy  more  than  twenty  days.  Besides,  we 
shall  be  earlier  in  motion  than  any  of  the  pre 
vious  travellers,  unless  we  are  to  make  an  excep 
tion  in  favor  of  Mr.  Kennedy's  trip  of  30  miles 
from  Batty  Bay  to  Fury  Beach,  between  the  5th 
and  10th  January,  during  which  time  the  lowest 
temperature  registered  was  only  -25°.  Should 
either  Young  or  myself  remain  absent  beyond 
the  period  for  which  we  carry  provisions,  Hobson 
is  to  send  a  party  in  search  of  us.  A  sooty  fox 
has  been  captured  lately. 

15/A.  —  A  strong  N.W.  wind,  with  a  tempera 
ture  of  -40°,  confines  us  on  board.  One  cannot 
face  these  winds,  therefore  it  is  fortunate  that  we 


204  JOURNF  f  TO  CAPE  VICTORIA.         CHAP.  XII, 

did  not  start,  the  ship  being  much  more  comfort 
able  than  a  snow-hut. 


March.  —  Already  I  have  been  a  week  on 
board,  and  so  difficult  is  it  to  settle  down  to  any 
thing  like  sedentary  occupation,  after  a  period  of 
continued  vigorous  action,  that  even  now  I  can 
scarcely  sit  still  to  scribble  a  brief  outline  of  my 
trip  to  Cape  Victoria. 

On  the  morning  of  the  17th  February  the 
weather  moderated  sufficiently  for  us  to  set  out; 
the  temperature  throughout  the  day  varied  be 
tween  -31°  and  -42i°.  Leaving  Young's  party 
to  pass  on  through  the  strait,  I  proceeded  by  way 
of  the  Long  Lake,  which  I  found  to  be  10i  geo 
graphical  miles  in  length,  with  an  average  width 
of  half  a  mile. 

We  built  our  snow-hut  upon  the  west  coast, 
near  Pemmican  Rock,  after  a  march  of  19  or  20 
geographical  miles.  We  always  speak  of  geo 
graphical  miles  with  reference  to  our  marches  ;  six 
geographical  are  equal  to  seven  English  miles. 

On  the  following  day  the  old  N.W.  wind  sprang 
up  with  renewed  vigor,  and  the  thermometer  fell 
to  -48°;  the  cold  was  therefore  intense. 

On  the  third  day  our  dogs  went  lame  in  con 
sequence  of  sore  feet  ;  the  intense  cold  seems  to 
be  the  principal,  if  not  the  only  cause,  having 
hardened  the  surface-snow  beyond  what  their  feet 
can  endure.  I  was  obliged  to  throw  off  a  part  of 


MAR.  1859.  TRAVELLING  ROUTINE.  205 

the  provisions ;  still  we  could  not  make  more  than 
12  or  18  miles  daily.  We  of  course  walked,  so 
that  the  dogs  had  only  the  remaining  provisions 
and  clothing  to  drag,  yet  several  of  them  re 
peatedly  fell  down  in  fits. 

For  several  days  this  severe  weather  continued, 
the  mercury  of  my  artificial  horizon  remaining 
frozen  (its  freezing-point  is  — 39°) ;  and  our  rum, 
at  first  thick  like  treacle,  required  thawing  lat 
terly,  when  the  more  fluid  and  stronger  part  had 
been  used.  We  travelled  each  day  until  dusk, 
and  then  were  occupied  for  a  couple  of  hours  in 
building  our  snow-hut.  The  four  walls  were  run 
up  until  5i  feet  high,  inclining  inwards  as  much 
as  possible ;  over  these  our  tent  was  laid  to  form 
a  roof;  we  could  not  afford  the  time  necessary  to 
construct  a  dome  of  snow. 

Our  equipment  consisted  of  a  very  small 
brown-holland  tent,  macintosh  floor-cloth,  and  felt 
robes;  besides  this,  each  man  had  a  bag  of  double 
blanketing,  and  a  pair  of  fur  boots,  to  sleep  in. 
We  wore  mocassins  over  the  pieces  of  blanket  in 
which  our  feet  were  wrapped  up,  and,  with  the 
exception  of  a  change  of  this  foot-gear,  carried  no 
spare  clothes.  The  daily  routine  was  as  follows  : 
—  I  led  the  way;  Petersen  and  Thompson  fol 
lowed,  conducting  their  sledges ;  and  in  this  man 
ner  we  trudged  on  for  eight  or  ten  hours  without 
halting,  except  when  necessary  to  disentangle  the 
dog-harness.  When  we  halted  for  the  night, 
18 


200  TRAVELLING  ROUTINE.  CHAP.  XII 

Thompson  and  I  usually  sawed  out  the  blocks  of 
compact  snow  and  carried  them  to  Petersen,  who 
acted  as  the  master-mason  in  building  the  snow- 
hut:  the  hour  and  a  half  or  two  hours  usually 
employed  in  erecting  the  edifice  was  the  iiost 
disagreeable  of  the  day's  labor,  for,  in  addition  to 
being  already  well  tired  and  desiring  repose,  we 
became  thoroughly  chilled  whilst  standing  about. 
When  the  hut  was  finished,  the  dogs  were  fed, 
and  here  the  great  difficulty  was  to  insure  the 
weaker  ones  their  full  share  in  the  scramble  for 
supper ;  then  commenced  the  operation  of  un 
packing  the  sledge,  and  carrying  into  our  hut 
everything  necessary  for  ourselves,  such  as  pro 
vision  and  sleeping  gear,  as  well  as  all  boots,  fur 
mittens,  and  even  the  sledge  dog-harness,  to  pre 
vent  the  dogs  from  eating  them  during  our  sleep 
ing  hours.  The  door  was  now  blocked  up  with 
snow,  the  cooking-lainp  lighted,  foot-gear  changed, 
diary  written  up,  watches  wound,  sleeping  bags 
wriggled  into,  pipes  lighted,  and  the  merits  of  the 
various  dogs  discussed,  until  supper  was  ready  ;  the 
supper  swallowed,  the  upper  robe  or  coverlet  was 
pulled  over,  and  then  to  sleep. 

Next  morning  came  breakfast,  a  struggle  to  get 
into  frozen  mocassins,  after  which  the  sledges  were 
packed,  and  another  day's  march  commenced. 

In  these  little  huts  we  usually  slept  warm 
enough,  although  latterly,  when  our  blankets  and 
clothes  became  loaded  with  ice,  we  felt  the  cold 


MAR.  1859       WESTERN  SHORES  OF  BOOTHIA.  207 

severely.  When  our  low  doorway  was  carefully 
blocked  up  with  snow,  and  the  cooking-lamp  alight 
the  temperature  quickly  rose  so  that  the  walls 
became  glazed,  and  our  bedding  thawed ;  but  the 
cooking  over,  or  the  doorway  partially  opened,  it 
as  quickly  fell  again,  so  that  it  was  impossible  to 
sleep,  or  even  to  hold  one's  pannikin  of  tea,  with 
out  putting  our  mitts  on,  so  intense  was  the  cold ! 

On  the  21st  I  visited  our  main  depot  laid  out 
last  October ;  it  was  safe,  but  unfortunately  had 
been  carried  far  into  Wrottesley  Inlet,  and  only 
40  miles  south  of  Bellot  Strait. 

On  the  22d  an  easterly  gale  prevented  our 
marching,  but  we  had  the  good  fortune  to  shoot  a 
bear,  so  consoled  ourselves  with  fresh  steaks,  and 
the  dogs  with  an  ample  feed  of  unfrozen  flesh — a 
treat  they  had  not  enjoyed  for  many  months. 

We  coasted  along  a  granitic  land,  deeply  in 
dented  and  fringed  with  islands,  and  found  it  to 
be  the  general  characteristic  of  the  Boothian 
shore  from  Bellot  Strait,  until  we  had  accom 
plished  half  the  distance  to  the  magnetic  pole ; 
limestone  then  appeared,  and  the  remainder  of 
our  journey  was  performed  along  a  low,  straight 
shore,  which  afforded  us  much  greater  facility  for 
sledging. 

Throughout  the  whole  distance  we  found  a 
mixture  of  heavy  old  ice  and  light  ice  of  last 
autumn,  in  many  places  squeezed  up  into  pack ; 


208  WAGES  OF  NATIVE  BUILDERS.        CHAP.  XII 

but  as  we  advanced  southward  aged  floes  were 
less  frequently  seen. 

On  the  first  of  March  we  halted  to  encamp  at 
about  the  position  of  the  magnetic  pole  —  for  no 
cairn  remains  to  mark  the  spot.  I  had  almost 
concluded  that  my  journey  would  prove  to  be 
a  work  of  labor  in  vain,  because  hitherto  no 
traces  of  Esquimaux  had  been  met  with,  and,  in 
consequence  of  the  reduced  state  of  our  provis 
ions  and  the  wretched  condition  of  the  poor  dogs 
—  six  out  of  the  fifteen  being  quite  useless  —  I 
could  only  advance  one  more  march. 

But  we  had  done  nothing  more  than  look 
ahead ;  when  we  halted,  and  turned  round,  great 
indeed  was  my  surprise  and  joy  to  see  four  men 
walking  after  us.  Petersen  and  I  immediately 
buckled  on  our  revolvers  and  advanced  to  meet 
them.  The  natives  halted,  made  fast  their  dogs, 
laid  down  their  spears,  and  received  us  without 
any  evidence  of  surprise.  They  told  us  they  had 
been  out  upon  a  seal  hunt  on  the  ice,  and  were 
returning  home  :  we  proposed  to  join  them,  and 
all  were  soon  in  motion  again ;  but  another  hour 
brought  sunset,  and  we  learned  that  their  snow 
village  of  eight  huts  was  still  a  long  way  off,  so 
we  hired  them,  at  the  rate  of  a  needle  for  each 
Esquimaux,  to  build  us  a  hut,  which  they  com 
pleted  in  an  hour ;  it  was  8  feet  in  diameter,  5i 
feet  high,  and  in  it  we  all  passed  the  night.  Per- 


MAR.  1859.     INFORMATION  FROM  ESQUIMAUX.  209 

haps  the  records  of  architecture  do  not  furnish 
another  instance  of  a  dwelling-house  so  cheaply 
constructed ! 

We  gave  them  to  understand  that  we  were 
anxious  to  barter  with  them,  and  very  cautiously 
approached  the  real  object  of  our  visit.  A  naval 
button  upon  one  of  their  dresses  afforded  the  op 
portunity  ;  it  came,  they  said,  from  some  white 
people  who  were  starved  upon  an  island  where 
there  are  salmon  (that  is,  in  a  river);  and  that  the 
iron  of  which  their  knives  were  made  came  from 
the  same  place.  One  of  these  men  said  he  had 
been  to  the  island  to  obtain  wood  and  iron,  but 
none  of  them  had  seen  the  white  men.  Another 
man  had  been  to  "Ei-wil-lik  "  (Repulse  Bay),  and 
counted  on  his  fingers  seven  individuals  of  Rae's 
party  whom  he  remembered  having  seen. 

These  Esquimaux  had  nothing  to  eat,  and  no 
other  clothing  than  their  ordinary  double  dresses 
of  fur;  they  would  not  eat  our  biscuit  or  salt  pork, 
but  took  a  small  quantity  of  bear's  blubber  and 
some  water.  They  slept  in  a  sitting  posture,  with 
their  heads  leaning  forward  on  their  breasts.  Next 
morning  we  travelled  about  10  miles  further,  by 
which  time  we  were  close  to  Cape  Victoria ;  be 
yond  this  I  would  not  go,  much  as  they  wished  to 
lead  us  on ;  we  therefore  landed,  and  they  built 
us  a  commodious  snow  hut  in  half  an  hour;  this 
done,  we  displayed  to  them  our  articles  for  barter 
—  knives,  files,  needles,  scissors,  beads,  etc.  —  ex- 
18*  *  o 


210  BARTER  WITH  NATIVES.  CHAP.  XII 

pressed  our  desire  to  trade  with  them,  and  prom 
ised  to  purchase  everything  which  belonged  to 
the  starved  white  men,  if  they  would  come  to 
us  on  the  morrow.  Notwithstanding  that  the 
weather  was  now  stormy  and  bitterly  cold,  two 
of  the  natives  stripped  off  their  outer  coats  of 
reindeer  skin  and  bartered  them  for  a  knife  each. 

Despite  the  gale  which  howled  outside,  we 
spent  a  comfortable  night  in  our  roomy  hut. 

Next  morning  the  entire  village  population 
arrived,  amounting  to  about  forty-five  souls,  from 
aged  people  to  infants  in  arms,  and  bartering 
commenced  very  briskly.  First  of  all  we  pur 
chased  all  the  relics  of  the  lost  expedition,  consist 
ing  of  six  silver  spoons  and  forks,  a  silver  medal, 
the  property  of  Mr.  A.  M'Donald,  assistant  surgeon, 
part  of  a  gold  chain,  several  buttons,  and  knives 
made  of  the  iron  and  wood  of  the  wreck,  also 
bows  and  arrows  constructed  of  materials  obtained 
from  the  same  source.  Having  secured  these,  we 
purchased  a  few  frozen  salmon,  some  seals'  blubber 
and  venison,  but  could  not  prevail  upon  them  to 
part  with  more  than  one  of  their  fine  dogs.  One 
of  their  sledges  was  made  of  two  stout  pieces  of 
wood,  which  might  have  been  a  boat's  keel. 

All  the  old  people  recollected  the  visit  of  the 
i  Victory/  An  old  man  told  me  his  -name  was 
"Ooblooria:"  I  recollected  that  Sir  James  Ross 
had  employed  a  man  of  that  name  as  a  guide,  and 
reminded  him  of  it ;  he  was,  in  fact,  the  same  in- 


MAR.  1859.  INTELLIGENCE  OF  FRANKLIN'S  SHIPS  211 

dividual,  and  he  inquired  after  Sir  James  by  his 
Esquimaux  name  of  "Agglugga." 

I  inquired  after  the  man  who  was  furnished  with 
a  wooden  leg  by  the  carpenter  of  the  '  Victory : ' 
no  direct  answer  was  given,  but  his  daughter  was 
pointed  out  to  me.  Petersen  explained  to  me 
that  they  do  not  like  alluding  in  any  way  to  the 
dead,  and  that,  as  my  question  was  not  answered, 
it  was  certain  the  man  was  no  longer  amongst  the 
living. 

None  of  these  people  had  seen  the  whites ;  one 
man  said  he  had  seen  their  bones  upon  the  island 
where  they  died,  but  some  were  buried.  Petersen 
also  understood  him  to  say  that  the  boat  was 
crushed  by  the  ice.  Almost  all  of  them  had  part 
of  the  plunder ;  they  say  they  will  be  here  when 
we  return,  and  will  trade  more  with  us ;  also  that 
we  shall  find  natives  upon  Montreal  Island  at  the 
time  of  our  arriving  there. 

Next  morning,  4th  March,  several  natives  came 
to  us  again.  I  bought  a  spear  62  feet  long  from  a 
man  who  told  Petersen  distinctly  that  a  ship  hav 
ing  three  masts  had  been  crushed  by  the  ice  out 
in  the  sea  to  the  west  of  King  William's  Island, 
but  that  all  the  people  landed  safely ;  he  was  not 
one  of  those  who  were  eye-witnesses  of  it ;  the  ship 
sunk,  so  nothing  was  obtained  by  the  natives  from 
her ;  all  that  they  have  got,  he  said,  came  from 
the  island  in  the  river.  The  spear  staff  appears 
to  have  been  part  of  the  gunwale  of  a  light  boat. 


212  RAE'S  STATEMENTS  CONFIRMED.      CHAP.  XII 

One  old  man,  "  Oo-na-lee,"  made  a  rough  sketcn 
of  the  coast-line  with  his  spear  upon  the  snow,  and 
said  it  was  eight  journeys  to  where  the  ship  sank, 
pointing  in  the  direction  of  Cape  Felix.  I  can 
make  nothing  out  of  his  rude  chart. 

The  information  we  obtained  bears  out  the 
principal  statements  of  Dr.  Rae,  and  also  accounts 
for  the  disappearance  of  one  of  the  ships;  but  it 
gives  no  clue  to  the  whereabouts  of  the  other,  nor 
the  direction  whence  the  ships  come.  One  thing 
is  tolerably  certain — the  crews  did  not  at  any 
time  land  upon  the  Boothian  shore. 

These  Esquimaux  were  all  well  clothed  in  rein 
deer  dresses,  and  looked  clean;  they  appeared  to 
have  abundance  of  provisions,  but  scarcely  a  scrap 
of  wood  was  seen  amongst  them  which  had  not 
come  from  the  lost  expedition.  Their  sledges, 
with  the  exception  of  the  one  already  spoken  of, 
were  wretched  little  affairs,  consisting  of  two 
frozen  rolls  of  seal-skins  coated  with  ice,  and  at 
tached  to  each  other  by  bones,  which  served  as 
the  crossbars.  The  men  were  stout,  hearty  fellows, 
and  the  women  arrant  thieves,  but  all  were  good- 
humored  and  friendly.  The  women  were  decid 
edly  plain ;  in  fact,  this  term  would  have  been 
flattering  to  most  of  them ;  yet  there  was  a  degree 
of  vivacity  and  gentleness  in  the  manners  of  some 
that  soon  reconciled  us  to  these  Arctic  specimens 
of  the  fair  sex.  They  had  fine  eyes  and  teeth,  as 
well  as  very  small  hands,  and  the  young  girls  had 


MAR.  1859.  RETURN  TO  THE  'FOX/  213 

a  fresh  rosy  hue  not  often  seen  in  combination 
with  olive  complexions. 

Esquimaux  mothers  carry  their  infants  on  their 
backs  within  their  large  fur  dresses,  and  where 
the  babes  can  only  be  got  at  by  pulling  them  out 
over  the  shoulder.  Whilst  intent  upon  my  bar 
gaining  for  silver  spoons  and  forks  belonging  to 
Franklin's  expedition,  at  the  rate  of  a  few  needles 
or  a  knife  for  each  relic,  one  pertinacious  old 
dame,  after  having  obtained  all  she  was  likely  to 
get  from  me  for  herself,  pulled  out  her  infant  by 
the  arm,  and  quietly  held  the  poor  little  crea 
ture  (for  it  was  perfectly  naked)  before  me  in  the 
breeze,  the  temperature  at  the  time  being  60° 
below  freezing  point !  Petersen  informed  me 
that  she  was  begging  for  a  needle  for  her  child. 
I  need  not  say  I  gave  it -one  as  expeditiously  as 
possible ;  yet  sufficient  time  elapsed  before  the 
infant  was  again  put  out  of  sight  to  alarm  me 
considerably  for  its  safety  in  such  a  temperature. 
The  natives,  however,  seemed  to  think  nothing 
of  what  looked  to  me  like  cruel  exposure  of  a 
naked  baby. 

We  now  returned  to  the  ship  with  all  the  speed 
we  could  command  ;  but  stormy  weather  occa 
sioned  two  days'  delay,  so  that  we  did  not  arrive 
on  board  until  the  14th  March.  Though  consid 
erably  reduced  in  flesh,  I  and  my  companions  were 
in  excellent  health,  and  blessed  with  insatiable 
appetites.  On  washing  our  faces,  which  had  be- 


214  ARCTIC  FARE.  CHAP.  XH. 

come  perfectly  black  from  the  soot  of  our  blubber 
lamp,  sundry  scars,  relics  of  frost-bites,  appeared ; 
and  the  tips  of  our  fingers,  from  constant  frost 
bites,  had  become  as  callous  as  if  seared  with  hot 
iron. 

In  this  journey  of  twenty-five  days  we  trav 
elled  360  geographical  miles  (420  English),  and 
completed  the  discovery  of  the  coast-line  of  con 
tinental  America,  thereby  adding  about  120  miles 
to  our  charts.  The  mean  temperature  throughout 
the  journey  was  30°  below  zero  of  Fahrenheit,  or 
62°  below  the  freezing  point  of  water. 

On  reaching  the  ship,  I  at  once  assembled  my 
small  crew,  and  told  them  of  the  information  we 
had  obtained,  pointing  out  that  there  still  re 
mained  one  of  the  ships  unaccounted  for,  and 
therefore  it  was  necessary  to  carry  out  all  our 
projected  lines  of  search. 

During  this  journey  I  acquired  the  Arctic  ac 
complishment  of  eating  frozen  blubber,  in  deli 
cate  little  slices,  and  vastly  preferred  it  to  frozen 
pork.  At  the  present  moment  I  do  not  think  I 
could  even  taste  it,  but  the  same  privation  and 
hunger  which  induced  me  to  eat  of  such  food 
would  doubtless  enable  me  again  to  partake  of  it 
very  Jcmdly. 

I  shot  a  couple  of  foxes  which  came  playing 
about  the  dogs ;  conscious  of  their  superior 
speed,  they  were  very  impudent,  snapping  at  the 
dogs'  tails,  and  passing  almost  under  their  noses. 


MAR.  1859.          CAPTAIN  YOUNG'S  JOURNEY.  215 

I  shot  these  foxes,  intending  to  eat  them;  but 
the  dogs  anticipated  me  with  respect  to  one ; 
the  other  we  feasted  off  at  our  mess-table,  and 
thought  it  by  no  means  bad ;  it  was  insipid,  but 
decidedly  better  to  our  tastes  than  preserved 
meat. 

Captain  Allen  Young  and  his  party  had  re 
turned  on  board  on  the  3rd  of  March,  having 
placed  their  depot  upon  the  shore  of  Prince  of 
Wales'  Land,  about  70  miles  S.W.  of  the 'ship. 
Young  found  the  ice  in  Bellot  Strait  so  rough  as 
to  be  impassable,  and  was  obliged  to  adopt  the 
lake  route.  Prince  of  Wales'  Land  was  found  to 
be  composed  of  limestone  ;  the  shore  was  low, 
and  fringed  for  a  distance  of  ten  miles  to  sea 
ward  with  an  ancient  land-floe.  The  remain 
ing  width  of  the  strait  between  this  land  (North 
Somerset)  and  Prince  of  Wales'  Land  was  about 
15  miles,  and  this  space  was  composed  of  ice 
formed  since  September  last ;  this  was  the  water 
we  looked  at  so  anxiously  last  autumn  from 
Cape  Bird  and  Pemmican  Eock.  His  party  lived 
in  their  tent,  protected  from  the  wind  by  snow 
walls,  and,  like  ourselves,  escaped  with  a  few 
trivial  frost-bites.  So  far  all  was  very  satisfac 
tory,  the  general  health  good,  and  the  eagerness 
of  my  crew  to  commence  travelling  quite  charm 


ing. 


Young  proposed  carrying  out  another  depot  to 
the  north-west,  in  order  to  explore  well  up  Peel 


216  SUGAR  MISSING.  CHAP.  XII. 

Strait,  and  would  have  started  on  the  17th,  but 
the  weather  was  too  severe.  The  day  was  spent 
in  a  fruitless  search  for  three  casks  of  sugar  —  a 
serious  and  unaccountable  deficiency  —  but,  as 
it  was  important  to  replace  them  with  as  little 
delay  as  possible,  Young  set  off  on  the  18th,  al 
though  it  blew  a  N.W.  gale  at  the  time,  with  two 
men  and  eighteen  dogs,  for  Fury  Beach ;  failing 
to  find  the  requisite  quantity  there,  he  will  go  on 
to  Port  Leopold. 


MAR.  1859.      DR.  WALKER'S  SLEDGE  JOURNEY.  217 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

Dr.  Walker's  sledge  journey  —  Snow-blindness  attacks  Young's  party  — 
Departure  of  all  sledge-parties  —  Equipment  of  sledge-parties  —  Meet 
the  same  party  of  natives  —  Intelligence  of  the  second  ship  —  My  de 
pot  robbed  —  Part  company  from  Hobson  — Matty  Island  —  Deserted 
snow-huts  —  Native  sledges  —  Land  on  King  William  Land. 

DOCTOR  WALKER'S  zeal  for  travelling  was  not  to  be 
restrained;  I  therefore  gladly  availed  myself  of 
his  willingness  to  go  with  a  party  to  Cape  Airey 
and  bring  back  the  depot  of  provisions  left  there 
in  August  last.  These  trips  will  delay  our  spring 
journeys  for  a  few  days. 

During  my  absence  from  the  '  Fox '  the  wea 
ther  was  often  stormy,  and  temperature  unusually 
low;  the  mean  for  the  month  of  February  was 
-36°,  showing  it  to  be  one  of  the  coldest  on  record. 
When  possible  the  men  were  allowed  to  go  out 
shooting,  and  obtain  fifty  or  sixty  ptarmigan  and 
a  hare  ;  a  few  foxes  were  taken  in  traps,  and  two 
reindeer  were  seen. 

Yesterday  two  bears  came  near  the  ship,  but 
were  frightened  away  by  the  dogs.  Hubson  shot 
three  ptarmigan.  To-day  I  rambled  over  the  hills, 
the  weather  being  fine,  and  saw  a  hare. 

29tk. —  Continued  fine  weather.  A  couple 
more  foxes  and  a  lemming  in  its  brown  coat  have 
19 


218  DR.  WALKER'S  RETURN.  CHAP.  XIIl. 

been  captured,  and  a  hare  and  four  ptarn  agan  shot, 
This  fine  bright  weather  seems  to  have  awakened 
the  lemmings  and  ermines ;  their  tracks,  which 
were  very  rarely  seen  during  winter,  are  now 
tolerably  numerous ;  foxes  appear  in  greater  num 
bers,  probably  following  up  the  ptarmigan  from 
the  south.  The  thermometer  ranges  between 
zero  and  -20°;  it  has  once  been  up  to  -(-13°- 
When  exposed  to  a  noonday  sun  against  the 
ship's  side  it  rises  50°  higher.  The  earth-ther-, 
mometer  —  placed  2  feet  2  inches  beneath  the 
surface  —  which  gradually  fell  until  the  10th  of 
this  month,  has  now  begun  to  ascend ;  its  mini 
mum  was  -j-2°  ?  much  snow  also  lay  over  it,  6  feet 
deep  at  this  season. 

On  the  25th  Dr.  Walker  and  his  party  re 
turned,  not  having  been  able  to  find  the  depot. 
They  found  a  barrel  of  flour  upon  the  beach  a 
few  miles  south  of  Brentford  Bay;  it  appeared  to 
have  lain  there  for  years,  just  inside  a  shingle 
projection,  which  kept  off  the  ice  pressure,  so  that 
it  had  not  been  forced  up  high  upon  the  beach  ; 
the  ice  which  bore  it  there  —  probably  from  Port 
Leopold  —  had  disappeared,  and  the  cask  was 
frozen  into  the  shingle.  The  heading  has  been 
brought  on  board,  but  the  "  scribing  "  upon  it  is 
very  indistinct,  and  unintelligible  to  us.  The 
flour  is  of  the  ordinary  description  used  in  the 
navy,  and  known  as  "  seconds  ; "  most  of  it  was 
good,  and  a  plain  pudding  made  of  it  for  our  mess 


MAR.  1850.         RETURN  OF  CAPTAIN  YOUNG.  219 

could  not  be  distinguished  from  fresh  flour.  A 
specimen  has  been  preserved  with  the  view  of 
identifying  it  with  the  Fury  Beach  or  Port  Leo 
pold  stores  of  flour.  With  the  exception  of  a  soli 
tary  bear,  the  party  saw  no  living  creatures.  The 
shore  along  which  they  travelled  was  a  very  low 
shingly  limestone. 

Last  evening  I  was  delighted  to  see  Young  and 
his  two  dog-sledges  heave  in  sight;  he  brought 
about  8  cwt.  of  sugar  from  Fury  Beach,  but  not 
without  much  difficulty,  owing  to  the  roughness 
of  the  pack  in  Creswell  Bay,  and  also  to  the 
breaking  down  of  one  of  his  sledges ;  to  avoid 
this  pack  he  found  it  necessary  to  travel  nearly 
all  round  Creswell  Bay.  Cape  Garry  he  de 
scribes  as  a  gradually  curved  extent  of  flat  land, 
and  not  the  decided  cape  it  appears  to  be  upon 
the  chart ;  two  reindeer  were  seen  near  it,  and 
during  the  journey  four  bears ;  no  other  animals 
were  met  with.  His  labors  had  been  very  severe ; 
one  sledge  broke  down  and  all  the  sugar  had  to 
be  piled  upon  the  other :  the  consequence  was 
that  the  sledge  wras  so  heavily  loaded  that  it 
would  only  run  freely  after  the  dogs  on  smooth 
ice ;  and  directly  any  hummocks  were  encoun 
tered,  the  dogs,  with  their  usual  instinct,  not  to 
drag  a  sledge  unless  it  does  run  freely,  would  lie 
down,  and  oblige  Captain  Young  and  his  two  men 
to  unload  and  carry  the  packages,  over  the  obsta 
cle,  upon  their  own  backs.  After  this,  snow-blind- 


220  SNOW  BLINDNESS.  CHAP.  XIII. 

ness  came  on ;  Young  and  one  of  his  men  be 
came  blind  as  kittens;  and  the  third  man  had  to 
load,  lead,  and  unload  them,  when  these  portages 
occurred.  Young's  Esquimaux  dog-driver,  Sam 
uel,  was  quite  blind  when  the  party  reached  the 
ship.  Two  dogs,  not  choosing  to  allow  them 
selves  to  be  caught  and  put  in  harness,  had  been 
still  left  behind  at  the  last  encampment. 

There  still  remains  at  Fury  Beach  an  immense 
stack  of  preserved  vegetables  and  soups;  the 
party  supped  off  them  and  found  them  good. 
Young  brought  me.  back  two  specimen  tins  of 
"carrots  plain"  and  "carrots  and  gravy."  All 
small  casks  and  packages  were  covered  with 
snow ;  of  the  large  ones  which  appeared  through 
it,  he  saw  thirty-four  casks  of  flour,  five  of  split 
peas,  five  of  tobacco,  and  four  of  sugar.  Only  a 
very  few  tons  of  coals  remained.  There  were 
two  boats,  a  short  four-oared  gig  and  a  large  cutter ; 
the  former  required  nothing  but  caulking  to  make 
her  serviceable,  but  the  latter  had  a  large  portion 
of  one  bow  and  side  cut  out,  as  if  for  making,  or 
repairing  flat  sledges.  No  record  was  found. 

We  have  now  enough  sugar  to  last  us  for  seven 
or  eight  months,  but  by  the  survey  of  provisions 
which  has  just  been  completed,  we  find  a  defi 
ciency  of  many  other  articles,  including  three  casks 
of  salt  beef.  Fortunately  this  is  of  no  consequence 
as  we  have  abundance  of  both  salt  and  preserved 
meat,  but  it  shows  the  alarming  extent  to  which 


MAR.  1859.  PREPARATION  OF  SLEDGE  PARTIES.  221 

a  negligent  steward  may  mislead  one.  This  un 
fortunate  man  has  now  got  scurvy ;  want  of  exer 
cise  and  fresh  air  is  the  apparent  cause,  combined 
with  irregular  living;  the  spirits  have  hitherto 
been  in  his  charge. 

The  bustle  of  preparation  for  the  extended 
searching  journeys  has  been  exciting.  Hobson's 
party  and  my  own  are  now  all  prepared,  and 
Young  having  returned,  we  propose  setting  out 
on  the  2d  April  —  God  willing.  Young's  new 
sledge  will  be  ready,  and  he  will  also  start  a  few 
days  after  us.  All  our  winter  defences  of  snow, 
our  porches,  our  deck-layer,  and  our  external  em 
bankment,  have  been  removed.  Dr.  Walker,  of 
necessity,  remains  in  charge  of  the  ship,  with  two 
stewards,  a  cook,  a  carpenter,  and  a  stoker.  My 
party,  as  well  as  Hobson's,  will  be  provisioned,  in 
cluding  the  depots,  for  an  absence  of  about  eighty- 
four  days ;  but  not  being  able  to  afford  auxiliary 
or  supporting  sledge-parties,  much  time  will  be 
occupied  in  transporting  our  depots  further  out, 
in  order  that  we  may  start  with  as  much  as  we 
can  possibly  carry,  from  the  Magnetic  Pole,  be 
sides  leaving  there  a  depot  for  our  return. 

The  declinometer  was  taken  on  board  two  days 
ago ;  hourly  observations  have  been  made  with  it 
for  more  than  five  months :  we  can  no  longer 
spare  any  one  for  this  interesting  duty. 

24/7*  June.  —  One  thing  is  certain,  the  wild  sort 
19* 


222  THE  START.  CHAP.  XIII. 

of  tent-life  we  lead  in  Arctic  exploration  quite 
unfits  one  for  such  tame  work  as  writing  up  a 
journal ;  my  present  attempt  will  illustrate  the 
fact,  —  yet  with  such  ample  materials  what  a 
deeply  interesting  volume  might  be  written  ! 
Since  I  last  opened  this  familiar  old  diary — the 
repository  alike  of  dry  facts  and  the  most  trivial 
notes  —  winter  has  passed  away,  summer  is  far 
advanced,  and  the  glorious  sun  is  again  returning 
southward.  We  too  have  endeavored  to  move  on 
with  the  times  and  seasons. 

As  for  myself — J  have  visited  Montreal  Island^ 
completed  the  exploration  and  circuit  of  King 
William's  Island,  passing  on  foot  through  the  only 
feasible  North-West  Passage ;  but  all  this  is  as 
nothing  to  the  interest  attached  to  the  Franldm 
records  picked  up  by  Ilobson,  and  now  safe  in  my 
possession !  We  now  know  the  fate  of  the  •' Erebus' 
and  '  Terror.'  The  sole  object  of  our  voyage  has 
at  length  been  completed,  and  we  anxiously  await 
the  time  when  escape  from  these  bleak  regions 

will  become  practicable. 

$  $  &  &  $ 

The  morning  of  April  2nd  was  inauspicious,  but 
as  the  day  advanced  the  weather  improved,  so 
that  Ilobson  and  I  were  able  to  set  out  upon  our 
journeys ;  we  each  had  a  sledge  drawn  by  four 
men,  besides  a  dog-sledge,  and  dog-driver.  Mr. 
Petersen  having  volunteered  his  services  to  drive 
my  dogs,  —  an  offer  too  valuable  to  be  declined, 


APR.  1859.       EQUIPMENT  OF  SLEDGE  PARTIES.  223 

• —  managed  my  dog-sledge  throughout.  Our  five 
starveling  puppies  were  harnessed,  for  the  first 
time  in  their  lives,  to  a  small  sledge  which  I  drove 
myself,  intending  to  sell  'them  to  the  Esquimaux, 
if  I  could  get  them  to  drag  their  own  supply  of 
provisions  so  far.  The  procession  looked  imposing 
—  it  certainly  was  deeply  interesting ;  there  were 
five  sledges,  twelve  men,  and  seventeen  dogs,  the 
latter  of  all  sizes  and  shapes.  The  ship  hoisted 
the  Royal  Harwich  Yacht  flag,  and  our  sledges 
displayed  their  gay  silk  banners;  mine  was  a 
very  beautiful  one,  given  me  by  Lady  Franklin ; 
it  bears  her  name  in  white  letters  upon  a  red 
ground,  and  is  margined  with  wrhite  embroidery ; 
it  was  worked  by  the  sisters  of  Captain  Collinson. 
The  equipment  of  my  sledge-party  and  the 
weights  were  as  follows :  those  of  Hobson  and 
Young  were  almost  precisely  similar. 

Ibs.  weight. 
Two  sledges  and  fitting  complete     ..         ..         ..         ..110 

Tent,  waterproof  blanket,  floorcloth,  two  sleeping-robes, 

and  six  blanket  sleeping-bags        . .         . .         . .          . .  90 

Cooking-utensils,  shovel,  saw,  snow-knife,  and  sundry  small 

articles           . .          . .          . .          . .          . .          . .          . .  40 

Sledge-gun  and  ammunition             . .          . .          . .          . .  20 

Magnetic  and  astronomical  instruments      . .          . .          . .  60 

Six  knapsacks,  containing  spare  clothing   . .         . .         . .  60 

Various  tins  and  bags,  in  which  provision  and  fuel  were 

stored             . .          . .          . .         . .          . .          . .          . .  50 

Articles  for  barter        . .         . .          . .         . .         . .          . .  40 

Provisions          . .         . .         . .         . .         . .         . .         . .  930 

Total         1400 

The  load  for  each  man  to  drag  was  fixed  at 


2^4  SLOW  PROGRESS.  CHAP.  XIII. 

200  Ibs.,  and  for  each  dog  100  Ibs.  Our  provi 
sions  consisted  mainly  of  pcmmican,  biscuit,  and 
tea,  with  a  small  addition  of  boiled  pork,  rum,  and 
some  tobacco. 

The  men  being  untrained  to  the  work,  and 
sledges  heavily  laden,  our  march  was  fatiguing 
and  slow.  We  encamped  that  night  upon  the 
long  lake.  On  the  second  day  we  reached  the 
western  sea,  and  upon  the  third,  aided  by  our 
sledge  sails,  we  advanced  some  miles  beyond 
Arcedeckne  Island. 

The  various  depots  carried  out  with  so  much 
difficulty  and  danger  in  the  autumn,  were  now 
gathered  up  as  we  advanced,  until  at  length  we 
were  so  loaded  as  to  be  compelled  to  proceed  with 
one-half  at  a  time,  going  three  times  over  the 
same  ground.  For  six  days  this  tedious  mode 
of  progression  was  persevered  in,  by  which  time 
(15th  April)  we  reached  the  low  limestone  shore 
in  latitude  71°  7'  N.,  and  which  continues  thence 
in  almost  a  straight  line  southward  for  60  or  70 
miles.  We  now  commenced  laying  down  provi 
sions  for  our  consumption  upon  the  return  jour 
ney  ;  and  the  snow  being  unusually  level,  we  were 
able  to  advance  with  the  whole  of  our  remaining 
provisions,  amounting  to  nearly  sixty  days'  allow 
ance. 

Hitherto  the  temperature  continued  low,  often 
nearly  30°  below  zero,  and  at  times  with  cutting 
north  winds,  bright  sun,  and  intensely  strong 


APR.  1859  MEET  OLD  ACQUAINTANCE.  225 

snow  glare.  Although  we  wore  colored  specta 
cles,  yet  almost  all  suffered  great  inconvenience 
and  considerable  pain  from  inflamed  eyes.  Our 
faces  were  blistered,  lips  and  hands  cracked, — 
never  were  men  more  disfigured  by  the  combined 
effects  of  bright  sun  and  bitterly  cold  winds ;  for 
tunately  no  serious  frost-bites  occurred,  but  frost 
bitten  faces  and  fingers  were  universal. 

On  the  20th  April,  in  latitude  70J°  N.,  we  met 
two  families  of  natives,  comprising  twelve  indi 
viduals  ;  their  snow-huts  were  upon  the  ice  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile  off  shore,  and  their  occupation 
was  seal- hunting.  They  were  the  same  people 
with  whom  I  had  communicated  at  Cape  Victoria 
in  February. 

Old  Oo-na-lee  laid  his  hands  on  Petersen's 
shoulders  to  measure  their  width,  and  said,  u  He 
is  fatter  now  : "  true  enough,  the  February  tem 
perature  and  sharp  marching  had  caused  us  both 
at  that  time  to  shrink  considerably. 


Their  snow-huts  were  built  in  the  above  form, 
the  common  entrance  and  both   passages  being 


226  SNOW  HUTS  OF  NATIVES.          CH.I-.  XIIL 

just  sufficiently  high  to  get  in  without  having 
to  crawl  upon  our  hands  and  knees.  A  slab  of 
ice  in  the  roof  admitted  sufficient  light.  A  snow 
bank  or  bench  two  feet  high,  and  occupying  half 
the  area  of  each  hut,  was  covered  with  reindeer 
skins,  and  formed  the  family  place  of  repose.  An 
angular  snow  bench  served  as  the  kitchen  table, 
and  immediately  beside  it  sat  the  lady  of  the 
establishment  attending  the  stone  lamp  which 
stood  thereon,  and  the  stone-cooking  vessel  sus 
pended  over  it.  The  lamp  was  a  shallow  open 
vessel,  the  fuel  seal  oil,  and  the  wick  dried  moss. 
Her  "  tinder-box  "  was  a  little  seal-skin  bag  of  soft 
dry  moss,  and  with  a  lump  of  iron  pyrites  and  a 
broken  file  she  struck  fire  upon  it.  I  purchased 
the  file  because  it  was  marked  with  the  Govern 
ment  broad  arrow. 

We  saw  two  large  snow  shovels  made  of  ma 
hogany  board,  some  long  spear  handles,  a  bow  of 
English  wood,  two  preserved-meat  tins,  aaid  a  deal 
case  which  might  have  once  contained  a  large 
telescope  or  a  barometer ;  it  measured  3  feet  1 
inch  in  length  by  9  inches  wide  and  3\  inches 
deep  ;  there  was  no  lid,  but  part  of  the  brass 
hinges  remained. 

I  also  purchased  a  knife  which  had  some  indis 
tinct  markings  upon  it,  such  as  ship's  cutlasses  or 
swords  usually  have  ;  the  man  told  us  it  had  been 
picked  up  on  the  shore  near  where  a  ship  lay 
stranded ;  that  it  was  then '  about  the  length  of 


APR.  1859.      INTELLIGENCE  OF  SECOND  SHIP.  227 

his  arm,  but  his  countryman  who  picked  it  up 
broke  it  into  lengths  to  make  knives. 

After  much  anxious  inquiry  we  learned  that 
two  ships  had  been  seen  by  the  natives  of  King 
William's  Island ;  one  of  them  was  seen  to  sink 
in  deep  water,  and  nothing  was  obtained  from 
her,  a  circumstance  at  which  they  expressed 
much  regret ;  but  the  other  was  forced  on  shore 

O  ' 

by  the  ice,  where  they  suppose  she  still  remains, 
but  is  much  broken.  From  this  ship  they  have 
obtained  most  of  their  wood,  &c. ;  and  Oot- 
loo-lik  is  the  name  of  the  place  where  she 
grounded. 

Formerly  many  natives  lived  there,  now  very 
few  remain.  All  the  natives  have  obtained  plenty 
of  the  wood. 

The  most  of  this  information  was  given  us  by 
the  young  man  who  sold  the  knife.  Old  Oo-na- 
lee,  who  drew  the  rough  chart  for  me  in  March, 
to  show  where  the  ship  sank,  now  answered  our 
questions  respecting  the  one  forced  on  shore ;  not 
a  syllable  about  her  did  he  mention  on  the  former 
occasion,  although  we  asked  whether  they  knew 
of  only  one  ship  ?  I  think  he  would  willingly 
have  kept  us  in  ignorance  of  the  wreck  being 
upon  their  coasts,  and  that  the  young  man  unwit 
tingly  made  it  known  to  us. 

The  latter  also  told  us  that  the  body  of  a  man 
was  found  on  board  the  ship ;  that  he  must  have 
been  a  very  large  man,  and  had  long  teeth  ;  this 


228  BARTER  WITH  NATIVES.  CHAP.  XIII. 

is  all  he  recollected  having  been  told,  for  he  was 
quite  a  child  at  the  time. 

They  both  told  us  it  was  in  the  fall  of  the  year 
—  that  is,  August  or  September  —  when  the  ships 
were  destroyed  ;  that  all  the  white  people  went 
away  to  the  "  large  river,"  taking  a  boat  or  boats 
with  them,  and  that  in  the  following  winter  their 
bones  were  found  there. 

These  two  Esquimaux  families  had  been  up  as 
far  north  as  the  Tasmania  Group :|:  in  latitude 
71J°  N.,  and  were  returning  to  Neitchillee,  hunt 
ing  seals  by  the  way ;  those  we  met  at  Cape 
Victoria  had  already  gone  there.  The  nearest 
natives  to  us  at  present,  they  said,  were  resid 
ing  at  the  island  of  Amitoke,  ten  days'  journey 
distant  from  here.  Can  this  Amitoke  be  Matty 
Island  ? 

We  purchased  some  seal's  blubber  and  flesh,  as 
well  as  their  two  only  dogs ;  but  next  morning 
Oo-na-lee  repented  his  bargain,  or  feigned  to  do  so, 
but  as  he  came  without  the  knife  to  exchange 
back  we  retained  his  dog  ;  he  tried  to  steal  a 
tin  vessel  off  one  of  the  sledges,  and  perhaps  it 
was  for  the  purpose  of  regaining  our  favor  that 
he  made  known  to  us,  just  as  we  were  starting, 
that  his  countrymen  had  followed  my  homeward 

*  These  islands  were  so  named  by  me,  at  the  request  of  Lady  Franklin, 
in  grateft.il  acknowledgment  of  many  proofs  of  affectionate  sympathy  re 
ceived  from  the  colony  over  which  her  husband  presided  for  several  years, 
and,  in  particular,  of  the  large  contributions  raised  there  in  aid  of  hei 
expeditions  of  search. 


APR.  1859.  DEPOT  EOBBED.  229 

track  in  March,  discovering  my  depot  of  blub 
ber,  articles  for  barter,  and  two  revolvers,  and 
carried  them  all  off  to  Neitchillee, — by  no  means 
pleasant  intelligence ;  their  dogs  .must  have 
enabled  them  to  find  the  blubber  by  scenting 
it,  for  it  was  buried  under  4  feet  of  snow,  and 
strong  winds  obliterated  all  traces  upon  the 
surface. 

I  was  now  glad  we  had  purchased  both  the 
dogs  of  the  men,  as  it  would  probably  prevent 
their  seeking  for  our  depots  to  the  northward ; 
the  knowledge  of  the  insecurity  of  all  depots 
amongst  these  people  will  keep  us  on  our  guard 
for  the  future.  I  regretted  the  loss  of  the  pistols, 
as  it  left  my  party  with  no  other  arms  than  two 
guns. 

Oo-na-lee  told  us  when  we  first  met  him  that 
one  of  his  countrymen  was  very  sick ;  not  seeing 
a  sick  man  in  their  huts,  we  forgot  all  about  it 
until  after  starting,  when  Petersen  interpreted  to 
me  Oo-na-lee's  parting  information,  and  told  me 
how  he  described  that  the  breech  of  the  revolver 
turned  round ;  it  then  occurred  to  me  that  one  of 
the  men  might  have  been  wounded,  —  they  had 
discovered  how  to  cock  the  locks,  and  the  pistols 
were  loaded  and  capped. 

Oo-na-lee  was  well  acquainted  with  the  coast 
line  up  to  Bellot  Strait,  and  had  names  for  the 
different  headlands,  although  he  had  never  been 
so  far  north  ;  he  made  many  inquiries  about  the 


230  PART  COMPANY  FROM  HOBSON.      CHAP.  XIII 

position  of  our  ship,  her  size,  and  the  number  of 
men.  Had  he  been  able  to  travel  so  far  with  hi? 
wife  and  several  young  children,  and  without 
sledge  or  dogs,  I  think  he  certainly  would  have 
gone  up  to  Port  Kennedy ;  we  did  not  give  him 
any  encouragement  to  do  so.  His  wife  was  one 
of  I  he  most  importunate  of  the  many  women  we 
saw  at  Cape  Victoria  in  March.  She  was  the 
woman  who  plucke'd  out  an  infant  by  its  arm 
from  inside  her  dress,  and  exposed  it  regardless 
of  —30°  and  a  fresh  wind,  as  I  have  previously 
told. 

The  information  respecting  loth  the  missing 
ships  was  most  important,  and  it  remained  for  us 
to  discover,  if  possible,  the  stranded  ship. 

Continuing  our  journey,  we  crossed  a  wide  bay 
upon  level  ice,  and  the  most  perfectly  smooth 
hard  snow  I  ever  saw ;  there  must  have  been 
much  open  water  here  late  last  autumn.  Seven 
or  eight  snow  huts,  recently  abandoned,  were 
found  near  the  magnetic  pole.  During  the  25th, 
26th,  and  27th,  we  were  confined  to  our  tents  by 
a  very  heavy  south-east  gale,  with  severe  cold. 
Early  on  the  28th  we  reached  Cape  Victoria ; 
here  Hobson  and  I  separated.  He  marched  di 
rect  for  Cape  Felix,  King  William's  Land,  whilst 
I  kept  a  more  southerly  course.  Not  daring  to 
leave  depots  upon  this  coast,  we  carried  on  our 
whole  supply,  intending  to  deposit  a  small  portion 
upon  the  Clarence  Islands. 


APR.  1859.        MISS  THE  CLARENCE  ISLANDS.  231 

Hobson  was  unwell  when  we  parted,  complain 
ing  of  stiffness  and  pain  in  his  legs ;  neither  of 
us  then  suspected  the  cause.  I  gave  him  direc 
tions  to  search  the  west  coast  of  King  William's 
Island  for  the  stranded  ship  and  for  records,  and 
to  act  upon  such  information  as  he  might  obtain 
in  this  way,  or  from  the  natives ;  but  should  that 
shore  prove  destitute  of  traces,  to  carry  out  if 
possible  our  original  plan  for  the  completion  of 
discovery  and  search  upon  Victoria  Land,  com 
prising  the  blank  space  between  the  extremes 
visited  by  Captain  Collinson  and  Mr.  Wynniatt. 

I  soon  found  that  my  party  had  to  labor  across 
a  rough  pack  ;  nor  was  it  until  the  third  day  that 
we  completed  the  traverse  of  the  strait,  and  en 
camped  near  to  the  entrance  of  Port  Parry,  in 
King  William's  Island.  Although  the  weather  was 
clear,  and  that  by  our  reckoning  we  passed  di 
rectly  over  the  assigned  position  of  the  two  south 
ern  of  the  Clarence  Islands,  yet  we  saw  nothing 
of  them. 

A  day  was  devoted  to  securing  a  depot  in  a 
huge  mass  of  grounded  ice,  and  in  repairing  and 
drying  equipment,  or,  to  speak  more  correctly, 
in  getting  rid  of  the  ice  which  encumbered  our 
sleeping  bags  and  gear;  this  we  effected  by  beat 
ing  them  well  and  exposing  them  to  the  direct 
rays  of  the  sun.  Magnetic  and  other  observations 
gave  me  ample  employment,  the  only  immediate 


232  MATTY  ISLAND.  CHAP.  XIII 

result  of  which  was  my  being  almost  snow-blind 
for  the  two  following  days. 

On  May  2nd  we  set  off  again  briskly ;  our  load 
being  diminished  to  thirty  days'  provisions,  and 
the  sledge  sail  set,  we  soon  reached  the  land,  and 
travelled  along  it  for  Cape  Sabine ;  it  was  very 
thick  weather,  and  we  were  unable  to  see  any 
distance  in  consequence  of  the  mist  and  snow 
drift.  The  following  day  was  no  better,  and  the 
shore,  which  we  dared  not  leave  to  cross  the  bays, 
was  extremely  low. 

We  soon  discovered  that  we  had  strayed  in 
land;  but,  guided  by  the  wind,  continued  our 
course.  Upon  May  4th  we  descended  into  Wel 
lington  Strait,  and  the  weather  being  tolerably 
clear,  crossed  over  to  the  south-west  extreme  of 
Matty  Island,  in  the  hope  of  meeting  with  natives, 
no  traces  of  them  having  been  met  with  since 
leaving  Cape  Victoria.  Off  this  south-west  point 
we  found  a  deserted  village  of  nearly  twenty 
snow  huts,  besides  several  others,  within  a  few 
miles  upon  either  side  of  it;  in  all  of  them  I 
found  shavings  or  chips  of  different  kinds  of  wood 
from  the  lost  expedition  ;  they  appeared  to  have 
been  abandoned  only  within  a  fortnight  or  three 
weeks.  Abundance  of  blubber  was  gathered  up 
to  increase  our  stock  of  fuel,  and  had  we  en 
camped  here,  the  dogs  would  have  feasted  sump 
tuously  off  the  scraps  and  bones  of  seals  strewed 
about. 


MAT,  1859.  NATIVE  SLEDGES.  233 

The  runners  (or  sides)  of  some  old  sledges  left 
here  were  very  ingeniously  formed  out  of  rolls  of 
seal-skin,  about  3\  feet  long,  and  flattened  so  as  to 
be  2  or  3  inches  wide  and  5  inches  high ;  the  seal 
skins  appeared  to  have  been  well  soaked  and  then 
rolled  up,  flattened  into  the  required  form  and  al 


lowed  to  freeze.  The  underneath  part  was  coated 
with  a  mixture  of  moss  and  ice  laid  smoothly  on 
by  hand  before  being  allowed  to  freeze,  the  moss, 
I  suppose,  answering  the  purpose  of  hair  in  mortar, 
to  make  the  compound  adhere  more  firmly. 

From  this  spot  the  shore-line  of  Matty  Island 
turned  sharply  to  the  N.N.E. ;  there  were  some 
considerable  islands  to  the  east,  but  thinking  the 
most  southerly  of  this  group,  named  "  Owut-ta  " 
by  the  Esquimaux,  the  most  likely  place  to  find 
the  natives,  I  pushed  on  in  that  direction  until 
we  encamped.  Thick  fog  enveloped  us  for  the 
next  two  days ;  we  could  not  find  the  island,  but 
found  a  very  small  islet  near  it,  off  which  was 
another  snow-village  very  recently  abandoned, 
the  sledge  tracks  plainly  showing  that  the  inhab 
itants  had  gone  to  the  E.N.E.,  which  is  straight  for 
Neitchillee.  It  was  now  evident  that  these  places 
of  winter  resort  were  deserted,  and  that  here  at 
least  we-  should  not  find  any  natives ;  I  was  the 
20* 


234  NATIVE  HUTS.  CHAP.  XIII 

* 

more  sorry  at  having  missed  them,  as,  from  the 
quantity  of  wood  chips  about  the  huts,  they  prob 
ably  had  visited  the  stranded  ship  alluded  to  by 
the  last  Esquimaux  we  had  met,  and  the  route  to 
which  lies  up  an  inlet  visible  from  here,  and  then 
overland  three  or  four  days'  journey  to  the  west 
ward,  until  the  opposite-  coast  of  King  William's 
Land  is  reached. 

The  largest  huts  measured  12  feet  in  diameter, 
by  6  or  7  feet  high ;  the  greater  part  were  con 
structed  in  pairs,  having  a  passage  20  or  25  feet 
long,  serving  as  the  common  entrance ;  where  the 
passage  divides  into  two  branches,  there  was  a 
small  hut,  which  served  as  a  sort  of  ante-chamber 
for  the  reception  of  such  articles  as  were  intended 
to  remain  frozen. 


MAY,  1859.  MEET  ESQUIMAUX.  235 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

Meet  Esquimaux  —  News  of  Franklin's  people  —  Frighten  a  solitary 
party  —  Reach  the  Great  Fish  River  —  On  Montreal  Island  —  Total 
absence  of  all  relics  —  Examine  Ogle  Peninsula  —  Discover  a  skeleton 
—  Vagueness  of  Esquimaux  information — Cape  Herschel  —  Cairn. 

*7th  May. — To  avoid  snow-blindness,  we  com 
menced  night-marching.  Crossing  over  from 
Matty  Island  towards  the  King  William  Island 
shore,  we  continued  our  march  southward  until 
midnight,  when  we  had  the  good  fortune  to  arrive 
at  an  inhabited  snow-village.  We  found  here  ten 
or  twelve  huts  and  thirty  or  forty  natives  of  King 
William's  Island ;  I  do  not  think  any  of  them  had 
ever  seen  white  people  alive  before,  but  they 
evidently  knew  us  to  be  friends.  We  halted  at  a 
little  distance,  and  pitched  our  tent,  the  better  to 
secure  small  articles  from  being  stolen  whilst  we 
bartered  with  them. 

I  purchased  from  them  six  pieces  of  silver 
plate,  bearing  the  crests  or  initials  of  Franklin, 
Crozier,  Fairholme,  and  McDonald ;  they  also  sold 
us  bows  and  arrows  of  English  woods,  uniform  and 
other  buttons,  and  offered  us  a  heavy  sledge  made 
of  two  short  stout  pieces  of  curved  wood,  which 
no  mere  boat  could  have  furnished  them  with,  but 


236  PURCHASE  OF  KELICS.  CHAP.  XIV. 

-i, 

this  of  course  we  could  not  take  away ;  the  silver 
spoons  and  forks  were  readily  sold  for  four  needles 
each. 

They  were  most  obliging  and  peaceably  dis 
posed,  but  could  not  resist  the  temptation  to  steal, 
and  were  importunate  to  barter  everything  they 
possessed ;  there  was  not  a  trace  of  fear,  every 
countenance  was  lighted  up  with  joy ;  even  the 
children  were  not  shy,  nor  backward  either,  in 
crowding  about  us,  and  poking  in  everywhere. 
One  man  got  hold  of  our  saw,  and  tried  to  retain 
it,  holding  it  behind  his  back,  and  presenting  his 
knife  in  exchange ;  we  might  have  had  some  trou 
ble  in  getting  it  from  him,  had  not  one  of  my 
men  mistaken  his  object  in  presenting  the  knife 
towards  me,  and  run  out  of  the  tent  with  a  gun 
in  his  hand ;  the  saw  was  instantly  returned,  and 
these  poor  people  seemed  to  think  they  never 
could  do  enough  to  convince  us  of  their  friendli 
ness  ;  they  repeatedly  tapped  me  gently  on  the 
breast,  repeating  the  words  "Kammik  toomee" 
(We  are  friends). 

Having  obtained  all  the  relics  they  possessed, 
I  purchased  some  seal's  flesh,  blubber,  frozen 
venison,  dried  and  frozen  salmon,  and  sold  some 
of  my  puppies.  They  told  us  it  was  five  days' 
journey  to  the  wreck,  —  one  day  up  the  inlet 
still  in  sight,  and  four  days  overland ;  this  would 
carry  them  to  the  western  coast  of  Kin<*  William 
Land ;  they  added  that  but  little  now  remained 


MAT,  1859.        NEWS  OF  FRANKLIN'S  PEOPLE  237 

of  the  wreck  which  was  accessible,  their  country 
men  having  carried  almost  everything  away.  In 
answer  to  an  inquiry,  they  said  she  was  without 
masts;  the  question  gave  rise  to  some  laughter 
amongst  them,  and  they  spoke  to  each  other  about 
fire,  from  which  Petersen  thought  they  had  burnt 
the  masts  through  close  to  the  deck  in  order  to 
get  them  down. 

There  had  been  many  booh  they  said,  but  all 
have  long  ago  been  destroyed  by  the  weather ; 
the  ship  was  forced  on  shore  in  the  fall  of  the 
year  by  the  ice.  She  had  not  been  visited  during 
this  past  winter,  and  an  o^  woman  and  a  boy 
were  shown  to  us  who  were  the  last  to  visit  the 
wreck ;  they  said  they  had  been  at  it  during  the 
.vinter  of  1857-8. 

Petersen  questioned  the  woman  closely,  and 
she  seemed  anxious  to  give  all  the  information 
in  her  power.  She  said  many  of  the  white  men 
dropped  by  the  way  as  they  went  to  the  Great 
Biver ;  that  some  were  buried  and  some  were  not ; 
they  did  not  themselves  witness  this,  but  discov 
ered  their  bodies  during  the  winter  following. 

We  could  not  arrive  at  any  approximation  to 
the  numbers  of  the  white  men  nor  of  the  years 
elapsed  since  they  were  lost. 

This  was  all  the  information  we  could  obtain, 
and  it  was  with  great  difficulty  so  much  could  be 
gleaned,  the  dialect  being  strange  to  Petersen,  and 
the  natives  far  more  inclined  to  ask  questions 


238  JOURNEY  CONTINUED.  CHAP.  XIV. 

than  to  answer  them.  They  assured  us  we  should 
find  natives  upon  the  south  shore  of  King  \Yil- 
liam's  Island  only  three  days'  journey  from  here, 
and  also  at  Montreal  Island ;  moreover  they  said 
we  mi^ht  find  some  at  the  wreck.  For  these 

o 

reasons  I  did  not  prolong  my  stay  with  them  be 
yond  a  couple  of  hours.  They  seemed  to  have 
but  little  intercourse  with  other  communities,  riot 
having  heard  of  our  visit  to  the  Boothians  two 
months  before ;  one  man  even  asked  Petersen  if 
he  had  seen  his  brother,  who  lived  in  Boothia, 
not  having  heard  of  him  since  last  summer. 

It  was  quite  a  relief  to  get  away  from  these 
good-humored,  noisy  thieves,  and  rather  difficult 
too,  as  some  of  them  accompanied  us  for  miles. 
They  had  abundance  of  food,  were  well  clothed, 
and  are  a  finer  race  than  those  who  inhabit  North 
Greenland,  or  Pond's  Inlet:  the  men  had  their 
hair  cropped  short,  with  the  exception  of  one 
long,  straggling  lock  hanging  down  on  each  side 
of  the  face  ;  like  the  Boothians,  the  women  had 
lines  tattooed  upon  their  cheeks  and  chins. 

We  now  proceeded  round  a  bay  which  I  named 
Latrobe  in  honor  of  the  late  Governor  of  Victo 
ria,  and  of  his  brother,  the  head  of  the  Moravian 
Church  in  London,  both  esteemed  friends  of 
Franklin. 

Finding  the  "Mathison  Island"  of  Rae  to  be  a 
flat-topped  hill,  we  crossed  over  low  land  to  the 
west  of  it,  and  upon  the  morning  of  the  10th  May 


MAY,  1859.       FRIGHTEN  A  SOLITARY  PARTY.  239 

reached  a  single  snow  hut  off  Point  Booth.  I 
was  quite  astonished  at  the  number  of  poles  and 
various  articles  of  wood  lying  about  it,  also  at  the 
huge  pile  of  walrus'  and  reindeer's  flesh,  seal's 
blubber,  and  skins  of  various  sorts.  We  had 
'abundance  of  leisure  to  examine  these  exterior 
articles  before  the  inmates  would  venture  out; 
they  were  evidently  much  alarmed  by  our  sudden 
appearance. 

A  remarkably  fine  old  dog  was  tied  at  the  en 
trance  —  the  line  being  made  fast  within  the 
long  passage  —  and  although  he  wagged  his  tail, 
and  received  us  as  old  acquaintances,  we  did  not 
like  to  attempt  an  entrance.  At  length  an  old 
man  and  an  old  woman  appeared  ;  they  trem 
bled  with  fear,  and  could  not,  or  would  not,  say 
anything  except  "  Kammik  toomee :"  we  tried 
every  means  of  allaying  their  fears,  but  their 
wits  seemed  paralyzed,  and  we  could  get  no  infor 
mation.  We  asked  where  they  got  the  wood  ? 
They  purchased  it  from  their  countrymen.  Did 
they  know  the  Great  River  ?  Yes,  but  it  was  a 
long  way  off.  Were  there  natives  there  now? 
Yes.  They  even  denied  all  knowledge  of  white 
people  having  died  upon  their  shores.  A  fine 
young  man  came  out  of  the  hut,  but  we  could 
learn  nothing  of  him ;  they  said  they  had  noth 
ing  to  barter,  except  what  we  saw,  although  wo 
tempted  them  by  displaying  our  store  of  knives 
and  needles. 


240  GREAT  FISH  RIVER.  CHAP.  XIV. 

The  wind  was  strong  and  fair,  and  the  morning 
intensely  cold,  and  as  I  could  not  hope  to  over 
come  the  fears  of  these  poor  people  without  en 
camping,  and  staying  perhaps  a  day  with  them,  I 
determined  to  push  on,  and  presented  the  old 
lady  with  a  needle  as  a  parting  gift. 

Thn  principal  articles  which  caught  my  atten 
tion  here  were  eight  or  ten  fir  poles,  varying  in 
length  from  5  to  10  feet,  and  up  to  2i  inches  in 
diameter  (these  were  converted  into  spear  handles 
and  tent  poles),  a  kayak  paddle  constructed  out 
of  the  blade  of  two  ash  oars,  and  two  large  snow 
shovels  4  feet  long,  made  of  thin  plank,  painted 
white  or  pale  yellow;  these  might  have  been 
the  bottom  boards  of  a  boat.  There  were  many 
smaller  articles  of  wood. 

Half  a  mile  further  on  we  found  seven  or  eight 
deserted  snow  huts.  Bad  weather  had  now  fairly 
set  in,  accompanied  by  a  most  unseasonable  de 
gree  of  cold.  On  the  morning  of  the  12th  May 
we  crossed  Point  Ogle,  and  encamped  upon  the 
ice  in  the  Great  Fish  River  the  same  evening ; 
the  cold  and  the  darkness  of  our  more  southern 
latitude,  having  obliged  us  to  return  to  day- travel 
ling.  All  the  loth  we  were  imprisoned  in  our 
tent  by  a  most  furious  gale,  nor  was  it  until  late 
on  the  morning  of  the  14th  that  we  could  pro 
ceed  ;  that  evening  we  encamped  2  miles  from 
some  small  islands  which  lie  off  the  north  end  of 
Montreal  Island. 


MAY,  1859  MONTREAL  ISLAND.  241 

On  the  morning  of  the  15th  we  made  only  a 
short  march  of  6  miles,  as  one  of  the  men  suffered 
severely  from  snow-blindness,  and  I  was  anxious 
to  recommence  night-travelling;  encamped  in  a 
little  bay  upon  the  N.E.  side  of  Montreal  Island. 
The  same  evening  we  again  set  out,  although  it 
was  blowing  very  strongly,  and  "  snowing  for  a 
wager,"  as  the  men  expressed  it,  but  it  was  only 
necessary  for  us  to  keep  close  along  the  shore  of 
the  island :  we  discovered,  however,  a  narrow  and 
crooked  channel  which  led  us  through  to  the  west 
side  of  the  island,  and,  one  of  the  men  appearing 
seriously  ill,  we  encamped  about  midnight. 

Whilst  encamped  this  day,  explorations  were 
made  about  the  N.E.  quarter  of  the  island ;  islets 
and  rocks  were  seen  to  abound  in  all  directions ; 
eventually  it  proved  to  be  a  separate  island  upon 
which  we  had  encamped.  The  only  traces  or 
relics  of  Europeans  found  were  the  following  ar 
ticles,  discovered  by  Petersen,  beside  a  native 
mark  (one  large  stone  set  upright  on  the  top 
of  another),  at  the  east  side  of  the  Main  —  or 
Montreal  —  island  : — A  piece  of  preserved  meat 
tin,  two  pieces  of  iron  hoop,  some  scraps  of  cop 
per,  and  an  iron-hoop  bolt.  These  probably  are 
part  of  the  plunder  obtained  from  the  boat,  and 
were  left  here  until  a  more  favorable  opportunity 
should  offer,  or  perhaps  necessity  should  compel 
the  depositor  to  return  for  them. 

All  the  16th  we  were  unable  to  move,  not  only 
21  Q 


242  SEARCH  FOR  RELICS.  Cm.  .XIV. 

because  Hampton  was  ill,  but  the  weather  was 
extremely  bad,  and  snow  thickly  falling  with  tem 
perature  at  zero;  certainly  strange  weather  for 
the  middle  of  May  !  We  have  not  had  a  single 
clear  day  since  the  1st  of  the  month. 

On  the  17th  the  weather,  though  dull,  was 
clear,  so  Mr.  Petersen,  Thompson,  and  I,  set  off 
with  the  dog-sledge  to  complete  the  examination 
of  Montreal  Island,  leaving  the  other  three  men 
with  the  tent :  we  hoped  also  to  find  natives,  but 
had  not  seen  any  recent  traces  of  them  since 
passing  Point  Booth.  Petersen  drove  the  dog- 
sledge  close  along  shore  round  the  island  to  the 
south,  and  as  far  up  the  east  side  as  to  meet  our 
previously  explored  portion  of  it,  whilst  Thomp 
son  and  I  walked  along  on  the  land,  the  one  close 
down  to  the  beach,  and  the  other  higher  up,  ex 
amining  the  more  conspicuous  parts:  in  this  order 
we  traversed  the  remaining  portion  of  the  island. 

Although  the  snow  served  to  conceal  from  us 
any  traces  which  might  exist  in  hollows  or  shel 
tered  situations,  yet  it  rendered  all  objects  in 
tended  to  serve  as  marks  proportionally  con 
spicuous  ;  and  we  may  remember  that  it  was  in 
its  winter  garb  that  the  retreating  crews  saw 
Montreal  Island,  precisely  as  we  ourselves  saw  it. 
The  island  was  almost  covered  with  native  marks, 
usually  of  one  stone  standing  upright  upon  an 
other,  sometimes  consisting  of  three  stones,  but 
very  rarely  of  a  greater  number. 


MAY,  1859.  TOTAL  ABSENCE  OF  RELICS.  243 

No  trace  of  a  cairn  could  be  found. 

In  examining,  with  pickaxe  and  shovel,  a  col 
lection  of  stones  which  appeared  to  be  arranged 
artificially,  we  found  a  quantity  of  seal's  blubber 
buried  beneath ;  this  old  Esquimaux  cache  was 
near  the,  S.E.  point  of  the  island.  The  interior  of 
the  island  and  the  principal  islets  adjacent  were 
also  examined  without  success,  nor  was  there  the 
slightest  evidence  of  natives  having  been  here 
during  the  winter :  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at 
that  we  returned  in  the  evening  to  our  tent  some 
what  dispirited.  The  total  absence  of  natives 
was  a  bitter  disappointment;  circles  of  stones, 
indicating  the  sites  of  their  tenting  places  in  sum 
mer,  were  common  enough, 

Montreal  Island  is  of  primary  rock,  chiefly  grey 
gneiss,  traversed  with  whitish  vertical  bands  in  a 
N.  and  S.  direction  (by  them  I  often  directed  my 
route  when  crossing  the  island).  It  is  of  con 
siderable  elevation,  and  extremely  rugged.  The 
low  beaches  and  grassy  hollows  were  covered 
with  a  foot  or  two  of  hard  snow,  whilst  all  the 
level,  the  elevated,  or  exposed  parts  were  swept 
perfectly  bare  ;  had  a  cairn,  or  even  a  grave  ex 
isted  (raised  as  it  must  be,  the  earth  being  frozen 
hard  as  rock),  we  must  at  once  have  seen  it.  If 
any  were  constructed  they  must  have  been  lev 
elled  by  the  natives ;  every  doubtful  appearance 
was  examined  with  the  pickaxe. 

A  remark  made  by  my  men  struck  me  as  being 


244  SHOOTING  GAME.  CHAP.  XIV. 

shrewd ;  they  judged  from  the  washed  appear 
ance  of  the  rock  upon  the  east  side  of  Montreal 
Island  that  it  must  be  often  exposed  to  a  con 
siderable  sea,  such  as  would  effectually  remove 
everything  not  placed  far  above  its  reach ;  when 
looking  over  the  smooth  and  frozen  expanse  one 
is  apt  to  forget  this. 

Since  our  first  landing  upon  King  William's 
Island  we  have  not  met  with  any  heavy  ice  ;  all 
along  its  eastern  and  southern  shore,  together 
with  the  estuary  of  this  great  river,  is  one  vast 
unbroken  sheet  formed  in  the  early  part  of  last 
winter  where  no  ice  previously  existed ;  this  I  fancy 
(from  the  accounts  of  Back  and  Anderson)  is 
unusual,  and  may  have  caused  the  Esquimaux  to 
vary  their  seal-hunting  localities.  Mr.  Petersen 
suggested  that  they  might  have  retired  into  the 
various  inlets  after  the  seals ;  and  therefore  I 
determined  to  cross  over  into  Barrow's  Inlet  as 
soon  as  we  had  examined  the  Point  Ogle  Penin 
sula. 

Upon  Montreal  Island  I  shot  a  hare  and  a  bracy 
of  willow-grouse.  Up  to  this  date  we  had  shot 
during  our  journey  only  one  bear  and  a  couple 
of  ptarmigan.  The  first  recent  traces  of  reindeer 
were  met  with  here. 

On  the  18th  May  crossed  over  to  the  mainland 
near  Point  Duncan,  but  Hampton  again  complain 
ing,  I  was  obliged  to  encamp.  When  away  from 
my  party,  and  exploring  along  the  shore  towards 


,  1859.       RETURN  JOURNEY  COMMENCED.  245 

Elliot  Bay,  I  saw  a  herd  of  eight  reindeer  and 
succeeded  in  shooting  one  of  them.  In  the 
evening  Petersen  saw  another.  Some  willow* 
grouse  also  were  seen.  Here  we  found  much 
more  vegetation  than  upon  King  William's  Isl 
and,  or  any  other  Arctic  land  I  have  yet  seen. 

On  the  evening  of  the  19th  we  commenced 
our  return  journey,  but  for  the  three  following 
weeks  our  route  led  us  over  new  ground. 
Hampton  being  unable  to  drag,  I  made'  over 
my  puppy-team  to  him,  and  was  thus  left  free 
to  explore  and  fully  examine  every  doubtful 
object  along  our  route.  I  shall  not  easily  for 
get  the  trial  my  patience  underwent  during  the 
six  weeks  that  I  drove  that  dog-sledge.  The 
leader  of  my  team,  named  "Omar  Pasha,"  was 
very  willing,  but  very  lame ;  little  "  Rose "  was 
coquettish,  and  fonder  of  being  caressed  than 
whipped;  from  some  cause  or  other  she  ceased 
growing  when  only  a  few  months  old  ;  she  was 
therefore  far  too  small  for  heavy  work ;  "  Darky" 
and  "Missy"  were  mere  pups;  and  last  of  all 
came  the  two  wretched  starvelings,  reared  in  the 
winter,  "Foxey"  and  "  Dolly."  Each  dog  had  its 
own  harness,  formed  of  strips  of  canvas,  and  was 
attached  to  the  sledge  by  a  single  trace  12 
feet  long.  None  of  them  had  ever  been  yoked 
before,  and  the  amount  of  cunning  and  perversity 
they  displayed  to  avoid  both  the  whip  and  the 
work,  was  quite  astonishing.  They  bit  through 
21* 


246  PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  DOGS.        CHAP  XIV, 

their  traces,  pnd  hid  away  under  the  sledge,  or 
leaped  over  one  another's  backs,  so  as  to  get  into 
the  middle  of  the  team  out  of  the  way  of  my 
whip,  until  the  traces  became  plaited  up,  and  the 
dogs  wrere  almost  knotted  together ;  the  conse 
quence  was  I  had  to  halt  every  few  minutes,  pull 
off  my  mitts,  and,  at  the  risk  of  frozen  fingers, 
disentangle  the  lines,  I  persevered,  however,  and, 
without  breaking  any  of  their  bones,  succeeded 
in  getting  a  surprising  amount  of  work  out  of 
them.  Hobson  drove  his  own  dog-sledge  like 
wise,  and  as  long  as  we  wrere  together  we  helped 
each  other  out  of  difficulties,  and  they  w^ere  fre 
quently  occurring,  for,  apart  from  those  I  have 
above  mentioned,  directly  a  dog-sledge  is  stopped 
by  hummock,  or  sticks  fast  in  deep  snow,  the 
dogs,  instead  of  exerting  themselves,  lie  down, 
looking  perfectly  delighted  at  the  circumstance, 
and  the  driver  has  to  extricate  the  sledge  with  a 
hearty  one,  two,  three  haul !  and  apply  a  little 
gentle  persuasion  to  set  his  canine  team  in  motion 


again. 


Having  searched  the  east  shore  of  this  land 
for  7  or  8  miles  further  north,  we  crossed  over 
into  Barrow's  Inlet,  and  spent  a  day  in  its  ex 
amination,  but  not  a  trace  of  natives  was  met 
with. 

Regaining  the  shore  of  Dease  and  Simpson's 
Strait,  some  miles  to  the  west  of  Point  Richard 
son,  we  crossed  over  to  King  William's  Island 


MAY,  1859.  EXAMINE  OGLE  PENINSULA.  247 

upon  the  morning  of  the  24th,  striking  in  upon 
it  a  short  distance  west  of  the  Peffer  River. 
The  south  coast  was  closely  examined  as  we 
inarched  along  towards  Cape  Herschel.  Upon 
a  conspicuous  point,  to  the  westward  of  Point 
Gladman,  a  cairn  nearly  five  feet  high  was  seen, 
which,  although  it  did  not  appear  to  be  a  recent 
construction,  was  taken  down,  stone  by  stone,  and 
carefully  examined,  the  ground  beneath  being 
broken  up  with  the  pickaxe,  but  nothing  was 
covered. 

The  ground  about  it  was  much  exposed  to  the 
winds,  and  consequently  devoid  of  snow,  so  that 
no  trace  could  have  escaped  us.  Simpson  does 
not  mention  having  landed  here,  or  anywhere 
upon  the  island  except  at  Cape  Herschel,  yet  it 
seemed  to  me  strange  that  natives  should  con 
struct  such  a  mark  here,  since  a  huge  boulder, 
which  would  equally  serve  their  purpose,  stood 
upon  the  same  elevation,  and  within  a  couple  of 
hundred  yards.  We  had  previously  examined  a 
similar  but  smaller  cairn,  a  few  miles  to  the  east 
ward. 

We  were  now  upon  the  shore  along  which 
the  retreating  crews  must  have  marched.  My 
sledges  of  course  travelled  upon  the  sea-ice 
close  along  the  shore ;  and,  although  the  depth 
of  snow  which  covered  the  beach  deprived  us 
of  almost  every  hope,  yet  we  kept  a  very  sharp 
look-out  for  traces,  nor  were  we  unsuccessful 


248  A  SKELETON  DISCOVERED.          CHAP.  XIV. 

Shortly  after  midnight  of  the  24th  May,  when 
slowly  walking  along  a  gravel  ridge  near  the 
beach,  which  the  winds  kept  partially  bare  of 
snow,  I  came  upon  a  human  skeleton,  partly 
oxposed,  with  here  and  there  a  few  fragments 
of  clothing  appearing  through  the  snow.  The 
skeleton  —  now  perfectly  bleached  --  was  lying 
upon  its  face,  the  limbs  and  smaller  bones  either 
dissevered  or  gnawed  away  by  small  animals. 

A  most  careful  examination  of  the  spot  was  of 
course  made,  the  snow  removed,  and  every  scrap 
of  clothing  gathered  up.  A  pocket-book  afforded 
strong  grounds  of  hope  that  some  information 
might  be  subsequently  obtained  respecting  the 
unfortunate  owner  and  the  calamitous  march  of 
the  lost  crews,  but  at  the  time  it  was  frozen  hard. 
The  substance  of  that  which  we  gleaned  upon 
the  spot  may  thus  be  summed  up  :  — 

This  victim  was  a  young  man,  slightly  built, 
and  perhaps  above  the  common  height ;  the  dress 
appeared  to  be  that  of  a  steward  or  officer's  ser 
vant,  1he  loose  bow-knot  in  which  his  neck-hand 
kerchief  was  tied  not  being  used  by  seamen  or 
officers.  In  every  particular  the  dress  confirmed 
our  conjectures  as  to  his  rank  or  office  in  the  late 
expedition, —  the  blue  jacket  with  slashed  sleeves 
and  braided  edging,  and  the  pilot-cloth  great-coat 
with  plain  covered  buttons.  We  found,  also,  a 
clothes-brush  near,  and  a  horn  pocket-comb.  This 
poor  man  seems  to  have  selected  the  bare  ridge 


MAT,  1859.        VAGUENESS  OF  INFORMATION.  249 

top,  as  affording  the  least  tiresome  walking,  and 
to  have  fallen  upon  his  face  in  the  position  in 
which  we  found  him. 

It  was  a  melancholy  truth  that  the  old  woman 
spoke  when  she  said,  "  they  fell  down  and  died  as 
they  walked  along." 

I  do  not  think  the  Esquimaux  had  discovered 
this  skeleton,  or  they  would  have  carried  off  the 
brush  and  comb :  superstition  prevents  them  from 
disturbing  their  own  dead,  but  would  not  keep 
them  from  appropriating  the  property  of  the 
white  man  if  in  any  way  useful  to  them.  Dr, 
Eae  obtained  a  piece  of  flannel,  marked  "F.  D.  V., 
1845,"  from  the  Esquimaux  of  Boothia  or  Repulse 
Bay :  it  had  doubtless  been  a  part  of  poor  Des 
Voeux's  garments. 

At  the  time  of  our  interview  with  the  natives 
of  King  William's  Island,  Petersen  was  inclined  to 
think  that  the  retreat  of  the  crews  took  place  in 
the  fall  of  the  year,  some  of  the  men  in  boats,  and 
others  walking  along  the  shore ;  and  as  only  five 
bodies  are  said  to  have  been  found  upon  Montreal 
Island  with  the  boat,  this  fact  favored  his  opinion, 
because  so  small  a  number  could  not  have  dragged 
her  there  over  the  ice,  although  they  could  very 
easily  have  taken  her  there  by  water.  Subse 
quently  this  opinion  proved  erroneous.  I  mention 
it  because  it  shows  how  vague  our  information 
was  —  indeed  all  Esquimaux  accounts  are  natu 
rally  so  —  and  how  entirely  we  were  dependent 


250  CAPE  IIEESCHEL.  CHAP.  XIV. 

upon  our  own  exertions  for  bringing  to  light  the 
mystery  of  their  fate. 

The  information  obtained  by  Dr.  Rae  was 
mainly  derived  second-hand  from  the  Fish  River 
Esquimaux,  and  should  not  be  confounded  with 
that  received  by  us  from  tbe  King  William's 
Island  Esquimaux.  These  people  told  us  they 
did  not  find  the  bodies  of  the  white  men  (that  is, 
they  did  not  know  any  had  died  upon  the  march) 
until  the  following  winter.  This  is  probably  true, 
as  it  is  only  in  winter  and  early  spring  they  can 
travel  overland  to  the  west  shore,  or  that  they 
make  a  practice  of  wandering  along  the  shore  in 
search  of  seals  and  bears. 

The  remains  of  those  who  died  in  the  Fish 
River  may  very  probably  have  been  discovered  in 
the  summer  shortly  after  their  decease. 

Along  the  south  coast  of  King  William's  Land, 
as  upon  the  mainland,  I  was  sadly  disappointed  in 
my  expectation  of  meeting  natives.  We  found 
only  six  or  eight  deserted  snow  huts,  showing  that 
they  had  recently  been  here,  and  consequently 
there  was  the  less  chance  of  meeting  with  them 
on  our  further  progress,  as  the  season  had  now 
arrived  when  they  seek  the  rivers  and  the  favor 
ite  haunts  and  passes  of  the  reindeer  in  their 
northern  migration. 

Hobson  was  however  upon  the  western  coast, 
and  T  hoped  to  find  a  note  left  for  me  at  Cape 
Herschel  containing  some  piece  of  good  news. 


MAY,  1859.  SIMPSON'S  CAIRN.  251 

After  minutely  examining  the  intervening  coast 
line,  it  was  with  strong  and  reasonable  hope  I 
ascended  the  slope  which  is  crowned  by  Simpson's 
conspicuous  cairn.  This  summit  of  Cape  Herschel 
is  perhaps  150  feet  high,  and  about  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  within  the  low  stony  point  which  projects 
from  it,  and  on  which  there  was  considerable  ice 
pressure  and  a  few  hummocks  heaped  up,  the  first 
we  had  seen  for  three  weeks.  Close  round  this 
point,  or  by  cutting  across  it  as  we  did,  the  re 
treating  parties  must  have  passed;  and  the  op 
portunity  afforded  by  the  cairn  of  depositing  in 
a  known  position — and  that,  too,  where  their 
own  discoveries  terminated  —  some  record  of 
their  own  proceedings,  or,  it  might  be,  a  por 
tion  oT  their  scientific  journals,  would  scarcely 
have  been  disregarded. 

Simpson  makes  no  mention  of  having  left  a 
record  in  this  cairn,  nor  would  Franklin's  people 
have  taken  any  trouble  to  find  it  if  he  had  left 
one  ;  but  what  now  remained  of  this  once  "  pon 
derous  cairn  "  was  only  four  feet  high ;  the  south 
side  had  been  pulled  down  and  the  central  stones 
removed,  as  if  by  persons  seeking  for  something 
deposited  beneath.  After  removing  the  snow  with 
which  it  was  filled,  and  a  few  loose  stones,  the 
men  laid  bare  a  large  slab  of  limestone ;  with 
difficulty  this  was  removed,  then  a  second,  and 
also  a  third  slab,  when  they  came  to  the  ground. 
For  sometime  we  persevered  with  a  pickaxe  in 


252  SIMPSON'S  CAIRN.  CHAP.  XIV, 

breaking  up  the  frozen  earth,  but  nothing  what 
ever  was  found,  nor  any  trace  of  European  visitors 
in  its  vicinity.  There  were  many  old  caches  and 
low  stone  walls,  such  as  natives  would  use  to  lurk 
behind  for  the  purpose  of  shooting  reindeer ;  and 
we  noticed  some  recent  tracks  of  those  animals < 
which  had  crossed  direct  hither  from  the  main 
land. 


MAY,  1859.  THE  CAIRN  EMPTY.  253 


CHAPTER   XV. 

The  cairn  found  empty  —  Discover  Hobson's  letter  —  Discovery  of  Cro- 
zier's  record  —  The  deserted  boat  —  Articles  discovered  about  the  boat 
—  The  skeletons  and  relics  —  The  boat  belonged  to  the '  Erebus  ' —  Con 
jectures. 

A.S  the  Esquimaux  of  this  land,  as  well  as  those  of 
Boothia  and  Pond's  Inlet,  have  long  since  given 
up  the  practice  of  building  stone  dwellings  — 
passing  their  winters  in  snow  huts,  and  summers 
in  tents  —  no  other  traces  of  them  than  those  de 
scribed  remain ;  so  that  when  or  in  what  num 
bers  they  may  have  been  here  one  cannot  form 
any  opinion,  the  same  caches  and  hiding-places 
serving  for  generations. 

I  cannot  divest  myself  of  the  belief  that  some 
record  was  left  here  by  the  retreating  crews,  and 
perhaps  some  most  valuable  documents  which 
their  slow  progress  and  fast  failing  strength  would 
have  assured  them  could  not  be  carried  much  fur 
ther.  If  any  such  were  left  they  have  been  dis 
covered  by  the  natives,  and  carried  off,  or  thrown 
away  as  worthless.  Doubtless  the  natives,  when 
they  ascertained  that  famine  and  fatigue  had 
caused  many  of  the  white  men  "  to  fall  down  and 
dte  "  upon  their  fearful  march,  and  heard,  as  they 
22 


254  APPEARANCE  OF  CAIRNS.  CHAK  XV. 

might  have  clone,  of  its  fatal  termination  upon 
the  mainland,  lost  no  time  in  following  up  their 
traces,  examining  every  spot  where  they  halted, 
every  mark  they  put  up,  or  stone  displaced. 

It  is  easy  to  tell  whether  a  cairn  has  been  put 
up  or  touched  within  a  moderate  period  of  years; 
if  very  old,  the  outer  stones  have  a  weathered 
appearance,  lichens  will  have  grown  upon  the 
sheltered  portions  and  moss  in  the  crevices ;  but 
if  recently  disturbed,  even  if  a  single  stone  is 
turned  upside  down,  these  appearances  are  al 
tered.  If  a  cairn  has  been  recently  built  it  will 
be  evident,  because  the  stones  picked  up  from 
the  neighborhood  would  be  bleached  on  top  by 
the  exposure  of  centuries,  whilst  underneath  they 
would  be  colored  by  the  soil  in  which  they  were 
imbedded.  To  the  eye  of  the  native  hunter  these 
marks  of  a  recent  cairn  are  at  once  apparent : 
and  unless  Simpson's  cairn  (built  in  1839)  had 
been  disturbed  by  Crozier,  I  do  not  think  the 
Esquimaux  would  have  been  at  the  trouble  of 
pulling  it  down  to  plunder  the  cache  ;  but  hav 
ing  commenced  to  do  so,  would  not  have  left  any 
of  it  standing,  unless  ihcy  found  ivhat  they  sought. 

I  noticed  with  great  care  the  appearance  of  the 
stones,  and  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  cairn 
itself  was  of  old  date,  and  had  been  erected  many 
years  ago,  and  that  it  was  reduced  to  the  state  in 
which  we  found  it  by  people  having  broken  down 
one  side  of  it ;  the  displaced  stones,  from  being 


MAY,  1859.  INTEREST  ATTACHING  TO  THE  CAIRN.  255 

turned  over,  looking  far  more  fresh  than  those  in 
that  portion  of  the  cairn  which  had  been  left  stand 
ing.  It  was  with  a  feeling  of  deep  regret  and 
much  disappointment  that  I  left  this  spot  without 
finding  some  certain  record  of  those  martyrs  to 
their  country's  fame.  Perhaps  in  all  the  wide 
world  there  will  be  few  spots  more  hallowed  in 
the  recollection  of  English  seamen  than  this  cairn 
on  Cape  Herschel. 

A  few  miles  beyond  Cape  Herschel  the  land  be 
comes  very  low ;  many  islets  and  shingle-ridges 
lie  far  off  the  coast ;  and  as  we  advanced  we  met 
with  hummocks  of  unusually  heavy  ice,  showing 
plainly  that  we  were  now  travelling  upon  a  far 
more  exposed  part  of  the  coast-line.  We  were 
approaching  a  spot  where  a  revelation  of  intense 
interest  was  awaiting  me. 

About  12  miles  from  Cape  Herschel  I  found  a 
small  cairn  built  by  Hobson's  party,  and  containing 
a  note  for  me.  He  had  reached  this  his  extreme 
point,  six  days  previously,  without  having  seen 
anything  of  the  wreck,  or  of  natives,  but  he  had 
found  a  record  —  the  record  so  ardently  sought 
for,  of  the  Franklin  Expedition  —  at  Point  Vic 
tory,  on  the  N.W.  coast  of  King  William's  Land. 

That  record  is  indeed  a  sad  and  touching  relic 
of  our  lost  friends,  and,  to  simplify  its  contents,  I 
will  point  out  separately  the  double  story  it  so 
briefly  tells.  In  the  first  place,  the  record  paper 
was  one  of  the  printed  forms  usually  supplied 


256  DISCOVERY  OF  GORE'S  RECORD.      CHAP.  XV 

to  discovery  ships  for  the  purpose  of  being  en« 
closed  in  bottles  and  thrown  overboard  at  sea,  in 
order  to  ascertain  the  set  of  the  currents,  blanks 
being  left  for  the  date  and  position ;  any  person 
finding  one  of  these  records  is  requested  to  for 
ward  it  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Admiralty,  with  a 
note  of  time  and  place ;  and  this  request  is  print 
ed  upon  it  in  six  different  languages.  Upon  it 
was  written,  apparently  by  Lieutenant  Gore,  as 
follows : — 


"  28  of  May,  (  II.  M.  ships  <  Erebus '  and  '  Terror'  wintered  in  th^ 
1847.          (      ice  in  lat.  70°  05'  N. ;  long.  98°  23'  W. 

Having  wintered  in  1846-7  at  Beechey  Island,  in  lat.  74°  43'  28"  N., 
long.  91°  39'  15"  W.,  after  having  ascended  Wellington  Channel  to 
lat.  77°,  and  returned  by  the  west  side  of  Cornwallis  Island. 
"  Sir  John  Franklin  commanding  the  expedition. 
"  All  well. 

"  Party  consisting  of  2  officers  and  6  men  left  the  ships  on  Monday 
24th  May,  1847. 

"  GM.  GORE,  Lieut. 

"  CIIAS.  F.  DBS  VCEUX,  Mate." 


There  is  an  error  in  the  above  document,  name 
ly,  that  the  '  Erebus '  and  '  Terror '  wintered  at 
Beechey  Island  in  1846-7,  —  the  correct  dates 
should  have  been  1845—6  ;  a  glance  at  the  date  at 
the  top  and  bottom  of  the  record  proves  this,  but 
in  all  other  respects  the  tale  is  told  in  as  few 
words  as  possible  of  their  wonderful  success  up  to 
that  date,  May,  1847. 

We  find  that,  after  the  last  intelligence  of  Sir 


- 

MAY,  1859.  GORE'S  RECORD.  257 


John  Franklin  was  received  by  us  (bearing  date 
of  July,  1845),  from  the  whalers  in  Melville 
Bay,  that  his  Expedition  passed  on  to  Lancas 
ter  Sound,  and  entered  Wellington  Channel,  of 
which  the  southern  entrance  had  been  discovered 
by  Sir  Edward  Parry  in  1819.  The  '  Erebus '  and 
'  Terror '  sailed  up  that  strait  for  one  hundred 
and  fifty  miles,  and  reached  in  the  autumn  of 
1845  the  same  latitude  as  was  attained  eight 
years  subsequently  by  ELMS.  ' Assistance'  and 
'  Pioneer.'  Whether  Franklin  intended  to  par- 
sue  this  northern  course,  and  was  only  stopped  by 
ice  in  that  latitude  of  77°  north,  or  purposely  re 
linquished  a  route  which  seemed  to  lead  away 
from  the  known  seas  off  the  coast  of  America, 
must  be  a  matter  of  opinion ;  but  this  the  docu 
ment  assures  us  of,  that  Sir  John  Franklin's  Ex 
pedition,  having  accomplished  this  examination, 
returned  southward  from  latitude  77°  north,  which 
is  at  the  head  of  Wellington  Channel,  and  re-en 
tered  Barrow's  Strait  by  a  new  channel  between 
Bathurst  and  Cornwallis  Islands. 

Seldom  has  such  an  amount  of  success  been 
accorded  to  an  Arctic  navigator  in  a  single 
season,  and  when  the  '  Erebus '  and  '  Terror ' 
were  secured  at  Beechey  Island  for  the  coming 
winter  of  1845-6,  the  results  of  their  first  year's 
labor  must  have  been  most  cheering.  These 
results  were  the  exploration  of  Wellington  and 
Queen's  Channel,  and  the  addition  to  our  charts 
22*  R 


258  DISCOVERY  OF  CROZIER'S  KECORD.     OHAP.  XV. 

of  the  extensive  lands  on  either  hand.  In  1846 
they  proceeded  to  the  south-west,  and  eventually 
reached  within  twelve  miles  of  the  north  ex 
treme  of  King  William's  Land,  when  their  prog 
ress  was  arrested  hy  the  approaching  winter  of 
1846-7.  That  winter  appears  to  have  passed 
without  any  serious  loss  of  life  ;  and  when  in  the 
spring  Lieutenant  Gore  leaves  with  a  party  for 
some  especial  purpose,  and  very  probably  to  con 
nect  the  unknown  coast-line  of  King  William's 
Land  between  Point  Victory  and  Cape  Herschel, 
those  on  board  the  '  Erebus '  and  '  Terror '  were 
"  all  well,"  and  the  gallant  Franklin  still  com 
manded. 

But,  alas !  round  the  margin  of  the  paper  upon 
which  Lieutenant  Gore  in  1847  wrote  those  words 
of  hope  and  promise,  another  hand  had  subse 
quently  written  the  following  words:— 

"  April  25,  1848.  —  H.  M.  ships  «  Terror'  and  '  Erebus'  were  de 
serted  on  the  22nd  April,  5  leagues  N.N.W.  of  this,  having  been 
beset  since  12th  September,  1846.  The  officers  and  crews,  consisting 
of  105  souls,  under  the  command  of  Captain  F.  R.  M.  Crozier,  landed 
herein  lat.  69°  37'  42"  N.,  long.  98°  41'  W.  Sir  John  Franklin 
died  on  the  llth  June,  1847 ;  and  the  total  loss  by  deaths  in  the  ex 
pedition  has  been  to  this  date  9  officers  and  15  men. 
(Signed)  (Signed) 

"  F.  R.  M.  CROZIER,  "JAMES  FITZ.IAMES, 

"  Captain  and  Senior  Officer.  "  Captain  II.  M.  S.  Erebus. 

"  and  start  (on)  to-morrow,  2Gth,  for 
Back's  Fish  River." 

This  marginal  information  was  evidently  writ- 


MAY,  11559.       ACCOUNT  OF  THE  EXPEDITION.  259 

ten  by  Captain  Fitzjames,  excepting  only  the  note 
stating  when  and  where  they  were  going,  which 
was  added  by  Captain  Crozier. 

There  is  some  additional  marginal  information 
relative  to  the  transfer  of  the  document  to  its 
present  position  (viz.,  the  site  of  Sir  James  Ross's 
pillar)  from  a  spot  four  miles  to  the  northward, 
near  Point  Victory,  where  it  had  been  originally 
deposited  by  the  late  Commander  Gore.  This 
little  word  late  shows  us  that  he  too,  within  the 
twelvemonth  had  passed  away. 

In  the  short  space  of  twelve  months  how 
mournful  had  become  the  history  of  Franklin's 
expedition;  how  changed  from  the  cheerful 
"All  well"  of  Graham  Gore!  The  spring  of 
1847  found  them  within  90  miles  of  the  known 
sea  off  the  coast  of  America ;  and  to  men  who 
had  already  in  two  seasons  sailed  over  500  miles 
of  previously  unexplored  waters,  how  confident 
must  they  have  felt  that  that  forthcoming  navi 
gable  season  of  1847  would  see  their  ships  pass 
over  so  short  an  intervening  space  !  It  was  ruled 
otherwise.  Within  a  month  after  Lieutenant 
Gore  placed  the  record  on  Point  Victory,  the 
much-loved  leader  of  the  expedition,  Sir  John 
Franklin,  was  dead ;  and  the  following  spring 
found  Captain  Crozier,  upon  whom  the  command 
had  devolved  at  King  William's  Land,  endeavor 
ing  to  save  his  starving  men,  105  souls  in  all, 


2GO  DISCREPANCY  IN  THE  RECORD.        CHAP.  XV. 

from  a  terrible  death  by  retreating  to  the  Hudson 
Bay  territories  up  the  Back  or  Great  Fish  River. 

A  sad  tale  was  never  told  in  fewer  words. 
There  is  something  deeply  touching  in  their  ex 
treme  simplicity,,  and  they  show  in  the  strongest 
manner  that  both  the  leaders  of  this  retreating 
party  were  actuated  by  the  loftiest  sense  of  duty, 
and  met  with  calmness  and  decision  the  fear 
ful  alternative  of  a  last  bold  struggle  for  life, 
rather  than  perish  without  effort  on  board  their 
ships ;  for  we  well  know  that  the  6  Erebus '  and 
(  Terror '  were  only  provisioned  up  to  July,  1848. 

Another  discrepancy  exists  in  the  second  part 
of  the  record  written  by  Fitzjames.  The  original 
number  composing  the  expedition  was  138  souls,* 
and  the  record  states  the  total  loss  by  deaths  to 
have  been  9  officers  and  15  men,  consequently 
that  114  officers  and  men  remained;  but  it  also 
states  that  105  only  landed  under  Captain  Cro- 
zier's  command,  so  that  9  individuals  are  unac 
counted  for. 

Lieutenant  Hobson's  note  told  me  that  he 
found  quantities  of  clothing  and  articles  of  all 
kinds  lying  about  the  cairn,  as  if  these  men, 
aware  that  they  were  retreating  for  their  lives, 
had  there  abandoned  everything  which  they  con 
sidered  superfluous. 

Hobson  had  experienced  extremely  bad  weather 

*  See  Conclusion,  p.  317. 


MAT,  1859.  CAPE  CROZIER.  261 

—  constant  gales  and  fogs  —  and  thought  he 
might  have  passed  the  wreck  without  seeing 
her;  he  hoped  to  be  more  successful  upon  his 
r^4urn  journey. 

Encouraged  by  this  important  news,  we  ex 
erted  our  utmost  vigilance  in  order  that  no  trace 
should  escape  us. 

Our  provisions  were  running  very  short,  there 
fore  the  three  remaining  puppies  were  of  necessity 
shot,  and  their  sledge  used  for  fuel.  We  were  also 
enabled  to  lengthen  our  journeys,  as  we  had  very 
smooth  ice  to  travel  over,  the  off-lying  islets  keep 
ing  the  rough  pack  from  pressing  in  upon  the 
shore. 

Upon  the  29th  of  May  we  reached  the  western 
extreme  of  King  William's  Island,  in  lat.  69°  OS' 
N.,  and  long.  100°  08'  W.  I  named  it  after  Cap 
tain  Crozier  of  the  '  Terror,'  the  gallant  leader  of 
that  "  Forlorn  Hope  "  of  which  we  now  just  ob 
tained  tidings.  The  coast  we  marched  along  was 
extremely  low  —  a  mere  series  of  ridges  of  lime 
stone  shingle,  almost  destitute  of  fossils.  The 
only  tracks  of  animals  seen  were  those  of  a  bear 
and  a  few  foxes  —  the  only  living  creatures  a  few 
willow  grouse.  Traces  even  of  the  wandering 
Esquimaux  became  much  less  frequent  after  leav 
ing  Cape  Herschel.  Here  were  found  only  a  few 
circles  of  stones,  the  sites  of  tenting-places,  but  so 
moss-grown  as  to  be  of  great  age.  The  prospect 
to  seaward  was  not  less  forbidding  —  a  rugged 


2G2  DESERTED  BOAT.  CHAP.  XV 

surface  of  crushed-up  pack,  including  much  heavy 
ice.  In  these  shallow  ice-covered  seas,  seals  are 
but  seldom  found :  and  it  is  highly  probable  that 
all  animal  life  in  them  is  as  scarce  as  upon  the 
land. 

From  Cape  Crozier  the  coast-line  was  found  to 
turn  sharply  away  to  the  eastward  ;  and  early  in 
the  morning  of  the  30th  May  we  encamped  along 
side  a  large  boat — another  melancholy  relic  which 
Hobson  had  found  and  examined  a  few  days  be 
fore,  as  his  note  left  here  informed  me ;  but  he 
had  failed  to  discover  record,  journal,  pocketbook, 
or  memorandum  of  any  description. 

A  vast  quantity  of  tattered  clothing  was  lying 
in  her,  and  this  we  first  examined.  Not  a  single 
article  bore  the  name  of  its  former  owner.  The 
boat  was  cleared  out  and  carefully  swept  that 
nothing  might  escape  us.  The  snow  was  then 
removed  from  about  her,  but  nothing  whatever 
was  found. 

This  boat  measured  28  feet  long,  and  7  feet 
3  inches  wide ;  she  was  built  with  a  view  to  light- 
ness  and  light  draught  of  water,  and  evidently 
equipped  with  the  utmost  care  for  the  ascent  of 
the  Great  Fish  River;  she  had  neither  oars  nor 
rudder,  paddles  supplying  their  place,  and  as  a 
large  remnant  of  light  canvas,  commonly  known 
as  No.  8,  was  found,  and  also  a  small  block  for 
reeving  a  sheet  through,  I  suppose  she  had  been 
provided  with  a  sail.  A  sloping  canvas  roof  or 


MAY,  1859.          ARTICLES  FOUND  NEAR  HER.  263 

rain-awning  bad  also  formed  part  of  her  equip 
ment.  She  was  fitted  with  a  weather-cloth  9 
inches  high,  battened  down  all  round  the  gunwale, 
and  supported  by  24  iron  stanchions,  so  placed 
as  to  serve  likewise  for  rowing  tho wells.  There 
were  50  fathoms  of  deep-sea  sounding-line  near 
her,  as  well  as  an  ice  grapnel.  She  appeared  to 
have  been  originally  "  carvel "  built ;  but  for  the 
purpose  of  reducing  weight,  very  thin  fir  planks 
had  been  substituted  for  her  seven  upper  strakes, 
and  put  on  "  clincher  "  fashion. 

The  weight  of  the  boat  alone  was  about  700  or 
800  Ibs.  only,  but  she  was  mounted  upon  a  sledge 
of  unusual  weight  and  strength.  It  was  con 
structed  of  two  oak  planks  23  feet  4  inches  in 
length,  8  inches  in  width,  and  with  an  average 
thickness  of  2\  inches.  These  planks  formed  the 
sides  or  runners  of  the  sledge;  they  were  con 
nected  by  five  cross-bars  of  oak,  each  4  feet  long, 
and  4  inches  by  82  inches  thick,  and  bolted  down 
to  the  runners ;  the  underneath  parts  of  the  latter 
were  shod  with  iron.  Upon  the  cross-bars  five 
saddles  or  supporting  chocks  for  the  boat  were 
lashed,  and  the  drag-ropes  by  which  the  crew 
moved  this  massive  sledge,  and  the  weights  upon 
it,  consisted  of  21  inch  whaleline. 

I  have  calculated  the  weight  of  this  sledge  to 
be  650  Ibs. ;  it  could  not  have  been  less,  and  may 
have  been  considerably  more.  The  total  weight 
of  boat  and  sledge  may  be  taken  at  1400  Ibs.. 


2G4  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  BOAT.          CHAP.  XV 

which  amounts  to  a  heavy  load  for  seven  strong 
healthy  men. 

The  only  markings  about  the  boat  were  those 
upon  her  stem,  by  which  we  learned  that  she  was 


built  by  contract,  was  received  into  Woolwich 
Dockyard  in  April,  184  ,*  and  was  numbered  61. 
There  may  have  been  a  fourth  figure  to  the  right 
hand,  as  the  stem  had  been  reduced  in  order 
to  lighten  the  boat.  The  ground  the  sledge 
rested  upon  was  the  usual  limestone  shingle,  per 
fectly  flat,  and  probably  overflowed  at  times  every 
summer,  as  the  stones  were  embedded  in  ice. 

The  boat  was  partially  out  of  her  cradle  upon 
the  sledge,  and  lying  in  such  a  position  as  to  lead 
me  to  suppose  it  the  effect  of  a  violent  north 
west  gale.  She  was  barely,  if  at  all,  above  the 
reach  of  occasional  tides. 

One  hundred  yards  from  her,  upon  the  land 
side,  lay  the  stump  of  a  fir-tree,  12  feet  long,  and 

*  Only  the  first  three  figures  of  the  date  upon  her  stem  remained, 
thus  — 184  . 


MAT,  1859.  SKELETONS  AND  RELICS.  265 

16  inches  in  diameter  at  3  feet  above  the  roots. 
Although  the  ice  had  used  it  roughly  during  its 
drift  to  this  shore,  and  rubbed  off  every  vestige 
of  bark,  yet  the  wood  was  perfectly  sound.  It 
may  have  been  and  probably  has  been  lying  there 
for  twenty  or  thirty  years,  and  during  such  a  pe 
riod  would  suffer  less  decay  in  this  region  of  frost 
than  in  one-sixth  of  the  time  at  home.  Within 
two  yards  of  it  I  noticed  a  few  scanty  tufts  of 
grass. 

But  all  these  were  after  observations;  there 
was  that  in  the  boat  which  transfixed  us  with 
awe.  It  was  portions  of  two  human  skeletons. 
One  was  that  of  a  slight  young  person ;  the  other 
of  a  large,  strongly-made,  middle-aged  man.  The 
former  was  found  in  the  bow  of  the  boat,  but  in 
too  much  disturbed  a  state  to  enable  Hobson  to 
judge  whether  the  sufferer  had  died  there ;  large 
and  powerful  animals,  probably  wolves,  had  de 
stroyed  much  of  this  skeleton,  which  may  have 
been  that  of  an  officer.  Near  it  we  found  the 
fragment  of  a  pair  of  worked  slippers, 
^ch  I  giye  the  pattern,  as  they 
may  possibly  be  identified.  The  lines 
were  white,  with  a  black  margin  ;  the 
spaces  white,  red,  and  yellow.  They  had  origin 
ally  been  11  inches  long,  lined  with  calf-skin  with 
the  hair  left  on,  and  the  edges  bound  with  red  silk 
ribbon.  Besides  these  slippers  there  were  a  pair 
of  small  strong  shooting  half-boots.  The  other 
23 


2G6  RELICS  ABOUT  THE  BOAT.  CHAP.  XV. 

skeleton  was  in  a  somewhat  more  perfect  state,* 
and  was  enveloped  with  clothes  and  furs ;  it  lay 
across  the  boat,  under  the  after-thwart.  Close 
beside  it  were  found  five  watches ;  and  there 
were  two  double-barrelled  guns  —  one  barrel  in 
each  loaded  and  cocked  —  standing  muzzle  up 
wards  against  the  boat's  side.  It  may  be  imagined 
with  what  deep  interest  these  sad  relics  were 
scrutinised,  and  how  anxiously  every  fragment  of 
clothing  was  turned  over  in  search  of  pockets 
and  pocketbooks,  journals,  or  even  names.  Five 
or  six  small  books  were  found,  all  of  them  scrip 
tural  or  devotional  works,  except  the  '  Vicar  of 
Wakefield.'  One  little  book,  <  Christian  Melodies/ 
bore  an  inscription  upon  the  titlepage  from  the 
donor  to  G.  G.  (Graham  Gore  ?)  A  small  Bible 
contained  numerous  marginal  notes,  and  whole 
passages  underlined.  Besides  these  books,  the 
covers  of  a  New  Testament  and  Prayerbook  were 
found. 

Amongst  an  amazing  quantity  of  clothing  there 
were  seven  or  eight  pairs  of  boots  of  various 
kinds — cloth  winter  boots,  sea  boots,  heavy  ankle- 
boots,  and  strong  shoes.  I  noted  that  there  were 
silk  handkerchiefs  —  black,  white,  and  figured  — 
towels,  soap,  sponge,  tooth-brush,  and  hair-combs ; 
mackintosh  gun-cover,  marked  outside  with  paint 
A  12,  and  lined  with  black  cloth.  Besides  these 


*  No  part  of  the  skull  of  either  skeleton  was  found,  with  the  exception 
only  of  the  lower  jaw  of  each. 


MAT,  1859.  RELICS  ABOUT  THE  BOAT.  267 

articles  we  found  twine,  nails,  saws,  files,  bristles, 
wax-ends,  sailmakers'  palms,  powder,  bullets,  shot, 
cartridges,  wads,  leather  cartridge-case,  knives  — 
clasp  and  dinner  ones  —  needle  and  thread  cases, 
slow-match,  several  bayonet-scabbards  cut  down 
into  knife-sheaths,  two  rolls  of  sheet-lead,  and,  in 
short,  a  quantity  of  articles  of  one  description 
and  another  truly  astonishing  in  variety,  and  such 
as,  for  the  most  part,  modern  sledge-travellers  in 
these  regions  would  consider  a  mere  accumulation 
of  dead  weight,  but  slightly  useful,  and  very  likely 
to  break  down  the  strength  of  the  sledge-crews. 

The  only  provisions  we  could  find  were  tea  and 
chocolate;  of  the  former  very  little  remained,  but 
there  were  nearly  40  pounds  of  the  latter.  These 
articles  alone  could  never  support  life  in  such  a 
climate,  and  we  found  neither  biscuit  nor  meat  of 
any  kind.  A  portion  of  tobacco  and  an  empty 
pemmican-tin,  capable  of  containing  22  pounds 
weight,  were  discovered.  The  tin  was  marked 
with  an  E ;  it  had  probably  belonged  to  the  '  Ere 
bus.'  None  of  the  fuel  originally  brought  from 
the  ships  remained  in  or  about  the  boat,  but  there 
was  no  lack  of  it,  for  a  driftrtree  was  lying  on  the 
beach  close  at  hand,  and  had  the  party  been  in 
need  of  fuel  they  would  have  used  the  paddles 
and  bottom-boards  of  the  boat. 

In  the  after  part  of  the  boat  we  discovered 
eleven  large  spoons,  eleven  forks,  and  four  tea 
spoons,  all  of  silver;  of  these  twenty-six  pieces 


268  RELICS  ABOUT  THE  BOAT.         CHAP.  XV. 

of  plate,  eight  bore  Sir  John  Franklin's  crest,  the 
remainder  had  the  crests  or  initials  of  nine  differ 
ent  officers,  with  the  exception  of  a  single  fork 
which  was  not  marked;  of  these  nine  officers, 
five  belonged  to  the  '  Erebus/  —  Gore,  Le  Ves- 
conte,  Fairholme,  Couch,  and  Goodsir.  Three 
others  belonged  to  the  '  Terror,'  —  Crozier,  (a 
teaspoon  only),  Hornby,  and  Thomas.  I  do  not 
know  to  whom  the  three  articles  with  an  owl  en 
graved  on  them  belonged,  nor  who  was  the  owner 
of  the  unmarked  fork,  but  of  the  owners  of  those 
we  can  identify,  the  majority  belonged  to  the 
c  Erebus.'  One  of  the  watches  bore  the  crest  of 
Mr.  Couch,  of  the  '  Erebus,'  and  as  the  pemmican 
tin  also  came  from  that  ship,  I  am  inclined  to 
think  the  boat  did  also  ;  the  authorities  at  Wool 
wich  could  tell  (by  her  number)  to  which  ship 
she  was  supplied  ;  and  as  one  of  the  pocket  chro 
nometers  found  in  the  boat  was  marked,  "  Park 
inson  and  Frodsham  980,"  and  the  other  "Arnold 
2020,"  it  could  also  be  ascertained  to  which  ship 
they  had  been  issued/1* 

Sir  John  Franklin's  plate  perhaps  was  issued  to 
the  men  for  their  use,  as  the  only  means  of  saving 
it ;  and  it  seems  probable  that  the  officers  gen 
erally  did  the  same,  as  not  a  single  iron  spoon, 
such  as  sailors  always  use,  has  been  found.  Of 

*  Those  chronometers,  according  to  the  receipts  in  office,  were  sup 
plied  one  to  each  ship  in  1845  ;  but  it  is  impossible  to  tell  to  which  ship 
the  bout  belonged,  as  the  number  is  imperfect. 


MAY,  1859.  CONJECTUBES.  269 

the  many  men,  probably  twenty  or  thirty,  who 
were  attached  to  this  boat,  it  seemed  most  strange 
that  the  remains  of  only  two  individuals  were 
found,  nor  were  there  any  graves  upon  the  neigh 
boring  flat  land ;  indeed,  bearing  in  mind  the 
season  at  which  these  poor  fellows  left  their 
ships,  it  should  be  remembered  that  the  soil  was 
then  frozen  hard,  and  the  labor  of  cutting  a  grave 
very  great  indeed. 

I  was  astonished  to  find  that  the  sledge  was 
directed  to  the  N.E.,  exactly  for  the  next  point 
of  land  for  which  we  ourselves  were  travelling ! 

The  position  of  this  abandoned  boat  is  about 
50  miles  —  as  a  sledge  would  travel  —  from  Point 
Victory,  and  therefore  65  miles  from  the  position 
of  the  ships ;  also  it  is  70  miles  from  the  skeleton 
of  the  steward,  and  150  miles  from  Montreal  Isl 
and  ;  it  is  moreover  in  the  depth  of  a  wide  bay, 
where,  by  crossing  over  10  or  12  miles  of  very 
low  land,  a  great  saving  of  distance  would  be 
effected,  the  route  by  the  coast-line  being  about 
40  miles. 

A  little  reflection  led  me  to  satisfy  my  own 
mind  at  least,  that  the  boat  was  returning  to  the 
ships :  and  in  no  other  way  can  I  account  for  two 
men  having  been  left  in  her,  than  by  supposing 
the  party  were  unable  to  drag  the  boat  fur 
ther,  and  that  these  two  men,  not  being  able  to 
keep  pace  with  their  shipmates,  were  therefore 
left  by  them  supplied  with  such  provisions  as 
23* 


270  CONJECTURES.  CHAP.  X\ 

could  be  spared  to  last  until  the  return  of  the 
others  from  the  ship  with  a  fresh  stock. 

Whether  it  was  the  intention  of  the  retraced- 
ing  party  to  await  the  result  of  another  season 
in  the  ships,  or  to  follow  the  track  of  the  main 
body  to  the  Great  Fish  River,  is  now  a  matter  of 
conjecture.  It  seeins  highly  probable  that  they 
had  purposed  revisiting  the  boat,  not  only  on  ac 
count  of  the  two  men  left  in  charge  of  it,  but 
also  to  obtain  the  chocolate,  the  five  watches, 
and  many  other  articles  which  would  otherwise 
scarcely  have  been  left  in  her. 

The  same  reasons  which  may  be  assigned  for 
the  return  of  this  detachment  from  the  main 
body,  will  also  serve  to  account  for  their  not  hav 
ing  come  back  to  their  boat.  In  both  instances 
they  appear  to  have  greatly  overrated  their 
strength,  and  the  distance  they  could  travel  in  a 
given  time. 

Taking  this  view  of  the  case,  we  can  under 
stand  why  their  provisions  would  not  last  them 
for  anything  like  the  distance  they  required  to 
travel ;  and  why  they  would  be  obliged  to  send 
back  to  the  ships  for  more,  first  taking  from  the 
detached  party  all  provisions  they  could  possibly 
spare.  Whether  all  or  any  of  the  remainder  of 
this  detached  party  ever  reached  their  ships  is 
uncertain ;  all  we  know  is,  that  they  did  not  re 
visit  the  boat,  and  which  accounts  for  the  absence 
of  more  skeletons  in  its  neighborhood ;  and  the 


MAY.  1859.  POINT  FRANKLIN.  271 

Esquimaux  report  that  there  was  no  one  alive  in 
the  ship  when  she  drifted  on  shore,  and  that  but 
one  human  body  was  found  by  them  on  board  of 
her. 

After  leaving  the  boat  we  followed  an  irregular 
coast-line  to  the  N.  and  N.W.,  up  to  a  very  prom 
inent  cape,  which  is  probably  the  extreme  of  land 
seen  from  Point  Victory  by  Sir  James  Ross,  and 
named  by  him  Point  Franklin,  which  name,  as  a 
cape,  it  still  retains. 

I  need  hardly  say  that  throughout  the  whole 
of  my  journey  along  the  shores  of  King  William's 
Land  I  caused  a  most  vigilant  look-out  to  be  kept 
to  seaward  for  any  appearance  of  the  stranded 
ship  spoken  of  by  the  natives;  our  search  was 
however  fruitless  in  that  respect 


272  POINT  VICTORY.  CHAP.  XVL 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Errors  in  Franklin's  records  —  Relics  found  at  the  cairn  —  "Reflections  on 
the  retreat  —  Returning  homeward  —  Geological  remarks  —  Difficul 
ties  of  summer  sledging  —  Arrive  on  board  the  '  Fox '  —  Navigable 
N.W.  passage  —  Death  from  scurvy — Anxiety  for  Captain  Young  — 
Young  returns  safely. 

ON  the  morning  of  2nd  June  we  reached  Point 
Victory.  Here  Hobson's  note  left  for  me  in  the 
cairn  informed  me  that  he  had  not  found  the 
slightest  trace  either  of  a  wreck  anywhere  upon 
the  coast,  or  of  natives  to  the  north  of  Cape  Cro- 
zier. 

Although  somewhat  short  of  provisions,  I  de 
termined  to  remain  a  day  here  in  order  to  exam 
ine  an  opening  at  the  Bottom  of  Back  Bay,  called 
so  after  Sir  George  Back,  by  his  friend  Sir  James 
Ross,  and  which  had  not  been  explored.  This 
proved  to  be  an  inlet  nearly  13  miles  deep,  with 
an  average  width  of  li  or  2  miles  ;  I  drove  round 
it  upon  the  dog  sledge,  but  found  no  trace  of  hu 
man  beings ;  it  was  filled  with  heavy  old  ice,  and 
was  therefore  unfavorable  for  the  resort  of  seals, 
and  consequently  of  natives  also. 

The  direction  of  the  inlet  is  to  the  E.S.E. ;  we 
found  the  land  on  either  side  rose  as  we  advanced 
up  it,  and  attained  a  considerable  elevation,  ex- 


JUNE,  1859.    ERRORS  IN  FRANKLIN'S  RECORDS.  273 

cept  immediately  across  its  head,  where  alone  it 
was  very  low ;  I  have  conferred  upon  it  the  name 
of  Collinson,  after  one  who  will  ever  be  distin 
guished  in  connection  with  the  Franklin  search, 
and  who  kindly  relieved  Lady  Franklin  of  much 
trouble  by  taking  upon  himself  the  financial  busi 
ness  of  this  expedition. 

An  extensive  bay,  westward  of  Cape  Herschel, 
1  have  named  after  Captain  Washington,  the  hy- 
drographer,  a  steadfast  supporter  of  this  final 
search. 

All  the  intermediate  coast-line  along  which  the 
retreating  crews  performed  their  fearful  mar-roll  is 
sacred  to  their  names  alone. 

Hobson's  note  informed  me  of  his  having  found 
a  second  record,  deposited  also  by  Lieut,  Gore  in 
May,  1847,  upon  the  south  side  of  Back  Bay,  but 
it  afforded  no  additional  information. 

It  is  strange  that  both  these  papers  state  the 
ships  to  have  wintered  in  1846-7  at  Beechey 
Island  !  So  obvious  a  mistake  would  hardly  have 
been  made  had  any  importance  been  attached  to 
these  documents.  They  were  soldered  up  in  thin 
tin  cylinders,  having  been  filled  up  on  board  prior 
to  the  departure  of  the  travellers;  consequently 
the  day  upon  which  they  were  deposited  was  not 
filled  in ;  but  already  the  papers  were  much  dam 
aged  by  rust,  —  a  very  few  more  years  would 
have  rendered  them  wholly  illegible.  When  the 
record  left  at  Point  Victory  was  opened  to  add 


274  RELICS  AT  THE  CAIRN.  CHAP.  XVL 

thereto  the  supplemental  information  which  gives 
it  its  chief  value,  Captain  Fitzjames,  as  may  be 
concluded  by  the  color  of  the  ink,  filled  in  the 
date  —  28th  —  in  May,  when  the  record  was  origi 
nally  deposited.  The  cylinder  containing  this 
record  had  not  been  soldered  up  again ;  I  suppose 
they  had  not  the  means  of  doing  so ;  it  was  found 
on  the  ground  amongst  a  few  loose  stones  which 
had  evidently  fallen  along  with  it  from  the  top  of 
the  cairn.  Hobson  removed  every  stone  of  this 
cairn  down  to  the  ground  and  rebuilt  it. 

Brief  as  these  records  are,  we  must  needs  be 
contented  with  them  ;  they  are  perfect  models 
of  official  brevity.  No  log-book  could  be  more 
provokingly  laconic.  Yet,  that  any  record  at  all 
should  be  deposited  after  the  abandonment  of  the 
ships,  does  not  seem  to  have  been  intended  ;  and 
we  should  feel  the  more  thankful  to  Captains  Cro- 
zier  and  Fitzjames,  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for 
the  invaluable  supplement ;  and  our  gratitude 
ought  to  be  all  the  greater  when  wre  remember 
that  the  ink  had  to  be  thawed,  and  that  writing 
in  a  tent  during  an  April  day  in  the  Arctic  re 
gions  is  by  no  means  an  easy  task. 

Besides  placing  a  copy  of  the  record  taken 
away  by  Hobson  from  the  cairn,  we  both  put  rec 
ords  of  our  own  in  it ;  and  I  also  buried  one 
under  a  large  stone  ten  feet  true  north  from  it, 
stating  the  explorations  and  discoveries  we  had 
made. 


TUNE,  1859.  RELICS  AT  THE  CAIRN.  275 

A  great  quantity  and  variety  of  things  lay 
strewed  about  the  cairn,  such  as  even  in  their 
three  days'  march  from  the  ships  the  retreat 
ing  crews  found  it  impossible  to  carry  further. 
Amongst  these  were  four  heavy  sets  of  boat's 
cooking  stoves,  pickaxes,  shovels,  iron  hoops,  old 
canvas,  a  large  single  block,  about  four  feet  of 
a  copper  lightning  conductor,  long  pieces  of  hol 
low  brass  curtain  rods,  a  small  case  of  selected 
medicines  containing  about  twenty-four  phials, 
the  contents  in  a  wonderful  state  of  preservation ; 
a  deep  circle  by  Robinson,  with  two  needles,  bar 
magnets,  and  light  horizontal  needle  all  complete, 
the  wrhole  weighing  only  nine  pounds ;  and  even 
a  small  sextant  engraved  with  the  name  of 
"  Frederick  Hornby  "  lying  beside  the  cairn  with 
out  its  case.  The  colored  eye-shades  of  the  sex 
tant  had  been  taken  out,  otherwise  it  was  perfect ; 
the  movable  screws  and  such  parts  as  come  in 
contact  with  tlie  observer's  hand  were  neatly  cov 
ered  with  thin  leather  to  prevent  frost-bite  in 
severe  weather. 

The  clothing  left  by  the  retreating  crews  of  the 
'  Erebus '  and  '  Terror  '  formed  a  huge  heap  four 
feet  high;  every  article  was  searched,  but  the 
pockets  were  empty,  and  not  one  of  all  these  a)  ti 
des  were  marked,  —  indeed  sailors' warm  clothing 
seldom  is.  Two  canteens,  the  property  of  marines, 
were  found,  one  marked  "88  C°.  Win.  Hedges," 
and  the  other  « 89  C°.  Wm.  Hether."  A  small 


276  RELICS  AT  THE  CAIRN.  CHAP.  XVI 

panniken  made  out  of  a  two-pound  preserved-meat 
tin  had  scratched  on  it  "  W.  Mark." 

When  continuing  my  homeward  march,  and,  as 
nearly  as  I  could  judge,  2\  or  2\  miles  to  the  north 
of  Point  Victory,  I  saw  a  few  stones  placed  in  line, 
as  if  across  the  head  of  a  tenting  place  to  afford 
some  shelter ;  here  it  was  I  think  that  Lieutenant 
Gore  deposited  the  record  in  May,  1847,  which 
was  found  in  1848  by  Lieutenant  Irving,  and 
finally  deposited  at  Point  Victory.  Some  scraps 
of  tin  vessels  were  lying  about,  but  whether  they 
had  been  left  by  Sir  James  Eoss'  party  in  Ma}', 
1830,  or  by  the  Franklin  Expedition  in  1847  or 
1848,  is  uncertain.* 

Here  ended  my  own  search  for  traces  of  the 
lost  ones.  Hobson  found  two  other  cairns,  and 
many  relics,  between  this  position  and  Cape  Felix. 
From  each  place  where  any  trace  was  discovered 
the  most  interesting  of  the  relics  were  taken  away, 
so  that  the  collection  we  have  made  is  very  con 
siderable. 

Of  these  northern  cairns  I  will  write  a  descrip 
tion  when  I  have  received  Hobson's  account  of 
his  journey;  but  here  it  is  as  well  to  state  his 
opinion,  as  well  as  my  own,  that  no  part  of  the 
coast  between  Cape  Felix  and  Cape  Crozier  has 
been  visited  by  Esquimaux  since  the  fatal  march 

*  It  is  a  remarkable  circumstance  that  when,  in  1830,  Sir  James  Ross 
discovered  Point  Victory,  he  named  two  points  of  land,  then  in  si^ht, 
Cape  Franklin  and  Cape  Jane  Franklin  respectively.  Eighteen  years 
afterwards  Franklin's  ships  perished  within  sight  of  those  headlands. 


JUNE,  1S59.      REFLECTIONS  AT  THE  RETREAT.  277 

of  the  lost  crews  in  April,  1848 ;  none  of  the  cairns 
or  numerous  articles  strewed  about — which  would 
be  invaluable  to  the  natives  —  or  even  the  drift 
wood  we  noticed,  had  been  touched  by  them. 
From  this  very  significant  fact  it  seems  quite  cer 
tain  that  they  had  not  been  discovered  by  the 
Esquimaux,  whose  knowledge  of  the  "  white  men 
falling  down  and  dying  as  they  walked  along" 
must  be  limited  to  the  shore-line  southward  and 
eastward  of  Cape  Crozier,  and  where,  of  course, 
no  traces  were  permitted  to  remain  for  us  to  find. 
It  is  not  probable  that  such  fearful  mortality  would 
have  overtaken  them  so  early  in  their  march  as 
within  80  miles  by  sledge-route  from  the  aban 
doned  ships — such  being  their  distance  from  Cape 
Crozier ;  nor  is  it  probable  that  we  could  have 
passed  the  wreck  had  she  existed  there,  as  there 
are  no  off-lying  islands  to  prevent  a  ship  drifting 
in  upon  the  beach ;  whilst  to  the  southward  they 
are  very  numerous ;  so  much  so  that  a  drifting 
ship  could  hardly  run  tl;e  gauntlet  between  them 
so  as  to  reach  the  shore. 

The  coast  from  Point  Victory  northward  is  con 
siderably  higher  than  that  upon  which  we  have 
been  so  many  days ;  the  sea  also  is  not  so  shallow, 
and  the  ice  comes  close  in;  to  seaward  all  was 
heavy  close  pack,  consisting  of  all  descriptions  of 
ice,  but  for  the  most  part  old  and  heavy. 

From  "Walls'  Bay  I  crossed  overland  to  the 
eastern  shore,  and  reached  my  depot  near  the 
24 


278  RETURNING  HOMEWARD.  CHAP.  XVI 

entrance  of  Port  Parry  on  the  5th  June,  after  an 
absence  of  thirty-four  days.  Hence  I  purposed 
travelling  alongshore  to  Cape  Sabine,  in  order  to 
avoid  the  rough  ice  which  we  encountered  when 
crossing  direct  from  Cape  Victoria  in  April,  and 
also  hoping  to  obtain  a  few  more  observations  for 
the  magnetic  inclination. 

The  weather  became  foggy  as  we  approached 
Pi  "nice  George's  Bay,  therefore  we  were  obliged 
to  go  well  into  it  before  attempting  to  cross. 
We  gained  the  land  —  upon  the  opposite  side,  as 
1  supposed  —  and  which  would  lead  us  direct  to 
Cape  Sabine ;  but  when  the  weather  cleared  up 
we  saw  a  long  low  island  to  seaward  of  us,  which 
puzzled  me  much.  Eventually  I  found  we  had 
discovered  a  strait  leading  from  Prince  George's 
Bay  into  Wellington  Strait,  about  8  miles  south 
of'  Cape  Sabine. 

This  discovery  cost  us  a  day's  delay,  and  was 
therefore  unwelcome,  as  we  were  then  in  daily 
expectation  and  dread  of  the  thaw,  which  renders 
all  travelling  so  very  difficult ;  and  we  were  still 
230  long  miles  from  our  ship.  In  this  strait  we 
found  a  deserted  snow  village  of  seventeen  huts ; 
one  of  them  was  unusually  large,  its  internal 
diameter  being  14  feet.  The  men  soon  scraped 
together  enough  blubber  to  supply  us  with  fuel 
for  our  homeward  march.  Strewed  about  on  the 
ice  or  in  every  snow  hut  were  shavings  and  chips 
of  fresh  wood ;  in  one  of  them  I  found  a  child's 


JUNE,  1859.  GEOLOGICAL  REMARKS.  279 

toy  —  a  miniature  sledge  —  made  of  wood.  No 
traces  of  natives  were  found  upon  either  shore  at 
this  place,  nor  had  I  met  with  any  since  leaving 
the  western  coast  of  the  island  to  the  southward 
of  Cape  Crozier. 

Having  passed  through  nearly  to  the  eastern 
end  of  the  strait,  we  cut  off  some  distance  by 
crossing  overland,  so  as  to  reach  the  sea-coast  3  or 
4  miles  southward  of  Cape  Sabine.  A  few  willow 
grouse,  two  foxes,  and  a  young  reindeer  were  seen. 
There  was  some  vegetation  upon  the  land,  and 
animals  appeared  to  resort  to  this  locality  in  tol 
erable  abundance  ;  the  contrast  between  it  and 
the  low,  barren  shore  we  had  so  recently  come 
from  was  striking  indeed ! 

Nothing  can  exceed  the  gloom  and  desolation 
of  the  western  coast  of  King  William's  Island  : 
Hobson  and  myself  had  some  considerable  expe 
rience  of  it ;  his  sojourn  there  exceeded  a  month ; 
its  climate  seems  different  from  that  of  the  eastern 
coast;  it  is  more  exposed  to  north-west  winds,  and 
the  air  was  almost  constantly  loaded  with  chilling 
fogs.  Everywhere  upon  the  shores  of  the  island 
I  noticed  boulders  of  dark  gneiss ;  upon  the  west 
coast  they  were  generally  small,  and  of  a  dark 
gray  color.  About  the  north  part  of  the  island 
Hobson  found  a  good  deal  of  sandstone,  the  prob 
able  result  of  ice-drift  from  Melville  Island  or 
Banks  Land. 

This  land  gives  one  the  idea  of  its  having  risen 


280  BOOTHIA  FELIX.  CHAP.  XVI 

within  a  recent  geological  period  from  the  sea  — 
not  suddenly, but  at  regular  intervals;  the  numer 
ous  terraces  or  beach-marks  form  long  horizontal 
lines,  rising  very  gradually,  and  in  clue  proportion 
as  their  distance  increases  from  the  sea ;  near  the 
shore  they  are,  of  course,  most  distinct.  Upon 
the  west  coast  some  fossils  were  picked  up,  chiefly 
impressions  of  shells. 

King  William's  Island  is  for  the  most  part  ex 
tremely  barren,  and  its  surface  dotted  over  with 
innumerable  ponds  and  lakes.  It  is  not  by  any 
means  the  "  land  abounding  with  reindeer  and 
musk  oxen  "  which  we  expected  to  find :  the  na 
tives  told  us  there  were  none  of  the  latter  and 
very  few  of  the  former  upon  it. 

On  the  8th  June  the  first  ducks  and  brent 
geese  were  seen  flying  northward.  Passing  over 
the  extreme  point  of  Cape  Victoria,  Boothia  Land, 
near  which  we  saw  the  deserted  snow  huts  of  our 
March  acquaintances,  and  shortly  afterwards  cross 
ing  the  mouth  of  the  deep  bay  to  the  north  of  it, 
in  which,  sheltered  by  the  island,  a  ship  would 
find  security  from  ice  pressure,  and  very  tolerable 
winter  quarters,  we  again  reached  the  straight 
low  limestone  coast  of  Boothia  Felix. 

I  was  unable  to  make  any  delay  at  the  Mag 
netic  Pole,  nor  could  I  find  a  trace  of  Ross' 
cairn  ;*  but  at  each  of  our  encampments  along 


*  This  cairn,  as  well  as  the  one  built  on  Point  Victory  in  1830,  waa 
removed  by  the  natives  ;  fortunately  they  had  not  visited  Point  Victory 


JUNE,  1859.  THE  MAGNETIC  INCLINATION.  281 

the  coast  the  magnetic  inclination  was  carefully 
observed.  Throughout  my  whole  journey  I  availed 
myself  of  every  opportunity  of  obtaining  these 
most  interesting  observations,  often  remaining  up, 
after  we  had  encamped  for  rest,  six  or  seven  hours 
in  order  to  do  so ;  but  the  instruments  supplied 
for  this  purpose  were  not  well  adapted,  and  occa 
sioned  me  a  vast  deal  of  labor  and  loss  of  time,  so 
as  to  diminish  to  almost  one-third  the  results  I 
should  otherwise  have  obtained.  Much  snow  has 
disappeared  off  the  land ;  and  the  ridges  or  ancient 
beaches,  being  the  parts  most  free  from  snow, 
showed  out  strongly  in  long,  dark,  horizontal 
lines,  rising  above  each  other  until  lost  to  view 
in  the  interior.  Here  and  there  a  few  fossil  shells 
and  corals  were  picked  up,  and  four  or  five  willow 
grouse  shot. 

ISthJune.  —  We  passed  from  limestone  to  gran 
ite  in  lat.  71°10'N.  Here  the  land  attains  to  con 
siderable  elevation.  In  the  hollows  of  the  dark 
granite  rocks  we  found  abundance  of  water,  and 
also  in  a  few  places  upon  the  sea-ice ;  it  was  quite 
evident  that  in  another  day  or  two  the  snow 
would  altogether  yield  to  the  warmth  of  summer ; 
birds  were  now  frequently  seen. 

We  discovered  a  narrow  channel  to  the  east 
ward  of  the  one  between  the  Tasmania  Group, 
through  which  we  had  passed  with  so  much  dif- 

whilst  the  Franklin  cairn  and  record  remained  there,  otherwise  neithei 
cairn  nor  record  would  have  remained  for  us  to  discover. 

24* 


282  ILLNESS  OF  HOBSON.  CHAP.  XVi 

ficulty  in  April ;  our  new  channel  was  covered 
with  smooth  ice,  and  was  also  much  shorter. 

At  one  of  our  depots  lately  visited,  a  note  left 
by  Hobson  informed  me  of  his  being  six  days  in 
advance  of  me,  and  also  of  his  own  serious  illness ; 
for  many  days  past  he  had  been  unable  to  walk, 
and  was  consequently  conveyed  upon  the  sledge ; 
his  men  were  hastening  home  with  all  their 
strength  and  speed,  in  order  to  get  him  under  the 
Doctor's  care.  We  also  were  doing  our  best  to 
push  on,  lest  the  bursting  out  of  melting  snow 
from  the  various  ravines  should  render  the  ice 
impassable. 

On  the  15th  the  snow  upon  the  ice  everywhere 
yielded  to  the  effects  of  increased  temperature  ;  1 
was,  indeed,  most  thankful  at  its  having  remained 
firm  so  long.  To  make  any  progress  at  all  after 
this  date  was  of  course  a  very  great  labor,  requir- 
ino*  the  utmost  efforts  of  both  the  men  and  the 

o 

dogs  ;  nor  was  the  freezing  mixture  through  which 
we  trudged  by  any  means  agreeable ;  we  were 
often  more  than  knee-deep  in  it. 

We  succeeded  in  reaching  False  Strait  on  the 
morning  of  the  18th  June,  and  pitched  our  tent 
just  as  heavy  rain  began  to  descend ;  it  lasted 
throughout  the  greater  part  of  the  day.  After 
travelling  a  few  miles  upon  the  Long  Lake,  fur 
ther  progress  was  found  to  be  quite  impossible, 
and  we  were  obliged  to  haul  our  sledges  up  off 
the  Hooded  ice,  and  commence  a  march  of  16  or 


JUNE,  1859.  NAVIGABLE  N.W.  PASSAGE.  283 

17  miles  overland  for  the  ship.  The  poor  dogs 
were  so  tired  and  sore-footed,  that  we  could  not 
induce  them  to  follow  us;  they  remained  about 
tne  sledges.  After  a  very  fatiguing  scramble 
across  the  hills  and  through  the  snow  valleys  we 
were  refreshed  with  a  sight  of  our  poor  dear 
lonely  little  '  Fox/  and  arrived  on  board  in  time 
for  a  late  breakfast  on  the  19th  June. 

With  respect  to  a  navigable  North-West  Passage, 
and  to  the  probability  of  our  having  been  able 
last  season  to  make  any  considerable  advance  to 
the  southward,  had  the  barrier  of  ice  across  the 
western  outlet  of  Bellot  Strait  permitted  us  to 
reach  the  open  water  beyond,  I  think,  judging 
from  what  I  have  since  seen  of  the  ice  in  the 
Franklin  Strait,  that  the  chances  were  greatly  in 
favor  of  our  reaching  Cape  Herschel,  on  the  S. 
side  of  King  William's  Land,  by  passing  (as  I  in 
tended  to  do)  castiuard  of  that  island. 

From  Bellot  Strait  to  Cape  Victoria  we  found 
a  mixture  of  old  and  new  ice,  showing  the  exact 
proportion  of  pack  and  of  clear  water  at  the 
setting  in  of  winter.  Once  to  the  southward 
of  the  Tasmania  Group,  I  think  our  chief  diffi 
culty  would  have  been  overcome ;  and  south 
of  Capt  Victoria  I  doubt  whether  any  further 
obstruction  would  have  been  experienced,  as 
but  little,  if  any,  ice  remained.  The  natives 
told  us  the  ice  went  away,  and  left  a  clear 
sea  every  year.  As  our  discoveries  show  the 


284  NAVIGABLE  N.W.  PASSAGE.          CHAP.  XVI 

Victoria  Strait  to  be  but  little  more  than  20 
miles  wide,  the  ice  pressed  southward  through 
so  narrow  a  space  could  hardly  have  prevented 
our  crossing  to  Victoria  Land,  and  Cambridge 
Bay,  the  wintering  place  reached  by  Collinson, 
from  the  west. 

No  one  who  sees  that  portion  of  Victoria 
Strait  which  lies  between  King  William's  Isl- 
land  and  Victoria  Land,  as  we  saw  it,  could 
doubt  of  there  being  but  one  way  of  getting  a 
ship  through  it,  that  way  being  the  extremely 
hazardous  one  of  drift  through  in  the  pack. 

The  wide  channel  between  Prince  of  "Wales* 
Land  and  Victoria  Land  admits  a  vast  and  con 
tinuous  stream  of  very  heavy  ocean  formed  ice 
from  the  N.W.,  which  presses  upon  the  western 
face  of  King  William's  Island,  and  chokes  up 
Victoria  Strait  in  the  manner  I  have  just  de 
scribed.  I  do  not  think  the  North-West  Passage 
could  ever  be  sailed  through  by  passing  west 
ward  —  that  is,  to  windward  —  of  King  William's 
Island. 

If  the  season  was  so  favorable  for  navigation 
as  to  open  the  northern  part  of  this  western  sea* 
(as,  for  instance,  in  1846,  when  Sir  J.  Franklin 
sailed  down  it),  I  think  but  comparatively  little 
difficulty  would  be  experienced  in  the  more 
southern  portion  of  it  until  Victoria  Strait  was 

*  This  channel  is  now  named  after  the  illustrious  navigator,  Admiral 
Sir  Juhn  Franklin. 


JUNE,  1859,  NAVIGABLE  N.W.  PASSAGE.  285 

reached.  Had  Sir  John  Franklin  known  that 
a  channel  existed  eastward  of  King  William's 
Land  (so  named  by  Sir  John  Ross),  I  do  not 
1hink  he  would  have  risked  the  besetment  of 
his  ships  in  such  very  heavy  ice  to  the  westr 
ward  of  it ;  but  had  he  attempted  the  north 
west  passage  by  the  eastern  route,  he  would 
probably  have  carried  his  ships  safely  through 
to  Behring's  Straits.  But  Franklin  was  fur 
nished  with  charts  which  indicated  no  passage 
to  the  eastward  of  King  William's  Land,  and 
made  that  land  (since  discovered  by  Rae  to  be 
an  island)  a  peninsula  attached  to  the  continent 
of  North  America ;  and  he  consequently  had  but 
one  course  open  to  him,  and  that  the  one  he 
adopted. 

My  own  preference  for  the  route  by  the  east 
side  of  the  island  is  founded  upon  the  observa 
tions  and  experience  of  Rae  and  Collinson  in 
1851-2-4.  I  am  of  opinion  that  the  barrier  of 
ice  off  Bellot  Strait,  some  3  or  4  miles  wide, 
was  the  only  obstacle  to  our  carrying  the  '  Fox/ 
according  to  my  original  intention,  southward 
to  the  Great  Fish  River,  passing  east  of  King 
William's  Island,  and  from  thence  to  a  winter 
ing  position  on  Victoria  Land  Perhaps  some 
future  voyager,  profiting  by  the  experience  so 
fearfully  and  fatally  acquired  by  the  Franklin 
expedition,  and  the  observations  of  Rae,  Collin 
son,  and  myself,  may  succeed  in  carrying  his 


28C  DEATH  FROM  SCURVY.  CHAP.  XVI. 

ship  through  from  sea  to  sea :  at  least  he  will 
be  enabled  to  direct  all  his  efforts  in  the  true 
and  only  direction.  In  the  mean  time  to  Frank 
lin  must  be  assigned  the  earliest  discovery  of  the 
North-West  Passage,  though  not  the  actual  ac 
complishment  of  it  in  his  ships/1" 

Saturday,  2nd  July.  —  Upon  my  arrival  on  board 
on  the  morning  of  the  19th  June,  my  first  inqui 
ries  were  about  Hobson ;  I  found  him  in  a  worse 
state  than  I  expected.  He  reached  the  ship  on 
the  14th,  unable  to  walk,  or  even  stand  without 
assistance ;  but  already  he  was  beginning  to 
amend,  and  was  in  excellent  spirits.  Christian 
had  shot  several  ducks,  which,  with  preserved  po 
tato,  milk,  strong  ale,  and  lemon-juice,  completed 
a  very  respectable  dietary  for  a  scurvy-stricken 
patient.  All  the  rest  were  tolerably  well ;  slight 
traces  only  of  scurvy  in  two  or  three  of  the  men. 
The  ship  was  as  clean  and  trim  as  I  could  expect, 
and  all  had  well  and  cheerfully  performed  their 
duties  during  my  absence ;  hardly  any  game  had 
been  shot,  except  one  bear. 

The  Doctor  now  acquainted  me  with  the  death 
of  Thomas  Blackwell,  ship's  steward,  which  oc- 

*  This  will  he  understood  when  it  is  recollected  that  W.  of  Simpson's 
Straits  or  Victoria  Lund,  a  navigahlc  passage  to  Behring's  Straits  is  known 
to  exist  along  the  coast  of  North  America.  Franklin  himself,  with  his 
companion  Richardson,  surveyed  hy  far  the  greater  portion  of  that  dis 
tance.  Franklin's  and  Parry's  discoveries  overlap  each  other  in  longi 
tude,  and  for  the  last  thirty  years  or  more  the  discovery  of  the  North- 
West  Passage  lias  been  reduced  to  the  discovery  of  a  link  uniting  the 
iwo. 


JULY,  1859.       ANXIETY  FOR  CAPTAIN  YOUNG.  287 

curred  only  five  days  previously,  and  wa»  occa 
sioned  by  scurvy.  This  man  had  scurvy  when  I 
left  the  ship  in  April,  and  no  means  were  left 
untried  by  the  Doctor  to  promote  the  recovery 
and  rally  his  desponding  energies ;  but  his  mind, 
unsustained  by  hope,  lost  all  energy,  and  at  last 
he  had  to  be  forcibly  taken  upon  deck  for  fresh 
ai; .  For  months  past  the  ship's  spirits  had  been 
of  necessity  removed  from  under  his  control. 

When  too  late  his  shipmates  made  it  known 
that  he  had  a  dislike  to  preserved  meats,  and  had 
lived  the  whole  winter  upon  salt  pork  !  He  also 
disliked  preserved  potato,  and  would  not  eat  it 
unless  watched,  nor  would  he  put  on  clean  clothes 
which  others  in  charity  prepared  for  him.  Yet 
his  death  was  somewhat  unexpected  ;  he  went  on 
deck  as  usual  to  walk  in  the  middle  of  the  day, 
and,  when  found  there,  was  quite  dead.  His  re 
mains  were  buried  beside  those  of  our  late  ship 
mate  Mr.  Brand. 

The  news  of  our  success  to  the  southward  in 
tracing  the  footsteps  of  the  lost  expedition  greatr 
]y  revived  the  spirits  of  my  small  crew ;  we 
wished  only  for  the  safe  and  speedy  return  of 
Young  and  his  party. 

Captain  Young  commenced  his  spring  explora 
tions  on  the  7th  April,  with  a  sledge  party  of  four 
men,  and  a  second  sledge  drawn  by  six  dogs 
under  the  management  of  our  Greenlander,  Sam 
uel  ;  finding  in  his  progress  that  a  channel  exist- 


288  ANXIETY  FOR  CAPTAIN  YOUNG.      CHAP.  XVI 

ed  between  Prince  of  Wales'  Land  and  Victoria 
Land  whereby  his  discovery  and  search  would  be 
lengthened,  he  sent  back  one  sledge,  the  tent, 
and  four  men  to  the  ship,  in  order  to  economise 
provisions,  and  for  forty  days  journeyed  with 
one  man  (George  Hobday)  and  the  dogs,  encamp 
ing  in  such  snow  lodges  as  they  were  able  to 
build. 

This  great  exposure  and  fatigue,  together  with 
extremely  bad  weather,  and  a  most  difficult  coast 
line  to  trace,  greatly  injured  his  health  ;  he  was 
compelled  to  return  to  the  ship  on  7th  June  for 
medical  aid,  but  proposing  at  all  hazards  to  renew 
his  explorations  almost  immediately.  Dr.  Walker 
met  this  determination  by  a  strong  protest  in 
writing  against  his  leaving  the  ship  again,  his 
health  being  quite  unequal  to  it ;  but  after  three 
days  Young  felt  himself  somewhat  better,  and, 
with  a  zeal  which  knew  no  bounds,  set  off  to  com 
plete  his  branch  of  the  search,  taking  with  him 
both  his  sledge  parties. 

From  the  Doctor's  account  I  felt  most  anxious 
for  his  return,  lest  his  health,  or  that  of  his  com 
panions,  should  receive  permanent  injury  ;  in  fact 
this  was  now  my  only  cause  of  anxiety.  The 
season  was  rather  forward  here,  and  advancing 
with  unusual  rapidity,  rain  and  wind  dissolving 
the  snow  and  ice ;  there  was  much  water  in  Bellot 
Strait,  extending  from  Half-way  Island  eastward 
to  the  table-land,  and  thence  in  a  narrow  lane  to 


JULY,  1859.  TREATMENT  OF  DOGS.     -  289 

Long  Island.  After  a  day  or  two  I  could  per 
ceive  a  vast  improvement  in  Hobson ;  and  my  own 
four  men,  with  the  exception  of  Hampton,  who  re 
quired  rest,  were  in  sound  health  ;  so  also  was  ray 
companion  Petersen.  On  24th  June  Christian 
shot  two  small  reindeer,  which  gave  us  170  Ibs.  of 
meat;  a  few  days  before  that  he  shot  a  seal, 
which  afforded  two  sumptuous  meals  for  all  on 
board. 

The  time  having  elapsed  during  which  Young 
expected  to  remain  absent,  and  the  difficulties  of 
the  transit  from  the  western  sea  having  become 
greatly  increased,  I  set  off  early  on  the  25th  June 
with  my  four  men,  intending  to  visit  Pemmican 
Rock ;  but  failing  to  come  across  him  there.,  I  re 
solved  to  carry  on  provisions  as  far  as  Four  River 
Point,  in  the  hope  of  meeting  with  him,  and  of  fa 
cilitating  his  return.  To  our  surprise  the  water 
had  all  drained  off  the  frozen  surface  of  the  Long 
Lake,  and  it  therefore  afforded  excellent  travel 
ling.  We  found  the  poor  dogs  lying  quietly  bo- 
side  our  sledges  ;  they  had  attacked  the  pemmicai.-; 
and  devoured  a  small  quantity  which  was  not 
secured  in  tin,  also  some  blubber,  some  leather 
straps,  and  a  gull  that  I  had  shot  for  a  specimen : 
but  they  had  not  apparently  relished  the  biscuit. 
Poor  dogs !  they  have  a  hard  life  of  it  in  these  re 
gions.  Even  Petersen,  who  is  generally  kind  and 
humane,  seems  to  fancy  they  must  have  little  or 
no  feeling :  one  of  his  theories  is,  that  you  may 
25  T 


200  TREATMENT  OF  DOGS.  CHAP.  XVL 

knock  an  Esquimaux  clog  about  the  head  with 
any  article,  hoy/ever  heavy,  with  perfect  impunity 
to  the  brutes.  One  of  us  upbraided  him  the 
other  day  because  he  broke  his  whip-handle  over 
the  head  of  a  dog.  "T/iat  was  nothing  at  all"  he  as 
sured  us :  some  friend  of  his  in  Greenland  found 
he  could  beat  his  dogs  over  the  head  with  a  heavy 
hammer,  —  it  stunned  them  certainly.  —  but  by 
laying  them  with  their  mouths  open  to  the  wind, 
they  soon  revived,  got  up  and  ran  about  "all 
right." 

We  lost  no  time  in  giving  them  a  good  feed, 
the  first  for  seven  days,  yet  they  did  not  seem 
unusually  hungry,  and  soon  coiled  themselves  up 
to  sleep  again.  Whilst  the  men  and  clogs  were 
employed  next  day  in  conveying  a  sledge  to  the 
east  end  of  the  lake,  I  walked  to  Cape  Bird  to 
look  out  for  the  absent  party,  but  they  had  not 
yet  returned  to  Pemmican  Rock. 

When  vainly  endeavoring,  with  felonious  in 
tentions,  to  climb  up  a  steep  cliff  to  the  breeding- 
places  of  some  silvery  gulls,  I  saw  and  shot  a. 
brent  goose,  seated  upon  an  accessible  ledge,  and 
made  a  prize  of  four  eggs ;  it  seems  strange  that 
this  bird  should  have  selected  so  unusual  a  breed 
ing-place.  Many  seals  were  basking  on  the  ice, 
and  the  watercourse  by  which  our  sledges  as 
cended  a  week  before  to  the  Long  Lake  was  now 
a  strong  and  rapid  stream.  A  few  reindeer  were 
seen. 


JOLT,  1859.  YOUNG  RETURNS  SAFELY.  291 

On  the  27th  I  sent  three  of  the  men  back  to 
the  ship,  and  with  Thompson  and  the  dogs  went 
on  to  Pemmican  Rock,  where,  to  our  great  joy, 
we  happily  met  Young  and  his  party,  who  had 
but  just  returned  there,  after  a  long  and  success 
ful  journey  the  particulars  of  which  I  will  give 
hereafter. 

Young  was  greatly  reduced  in  flesh  and  strength, 
so  much  weakened  indeed  that  for  the  last  few 
days  he  had  travelled  on  the  dog  sledge ;  Harvey 
—  also  far  from  well — could  just  manage  to  keep 
pace  with  the  sledge ;  his  malady  was  scurvy. 
Their  journeys  had  been  very  depressing ;  most 
dismal  weather,  low,  dreary  limestone  shores  de 
void  of  game,  and  no  traces  of  the  lost  expedition. 
The  news  of  our  success  in  the  southern  journeys 
greatly  cheered  them.  On  the  following  day  we 
were  all  once  more  on  board,  and  indulging  in 
such  rapid  consumption  of  eatables  as  only  those 
can  do  who  have  been  much  reduced  by  long- 
continued  fatigue  and  exposure  to  cold.  Venison^ 
ducks,  beer  and  lemon-juice,  daily;  preserved 
apples  and  cranberries  three  times  a  week  ;  and 
pickled  whaleskin — a  famous  antiscorbutic — ad 
libitum  for  all  who  liked  it.  The  weather,  which 
for  the  last  week  had  been  wet,  windy,  and  miser 
able,  now  set  in  fair.  The  carpenter's  hammer, 
and  the  men's  voices  at  their  work,  were  new  and 
animating  sounds. 


292  SIGNS  OF  RELEASE.  CHAP.  XVII. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

Signs  of  release — Dearth  of  animal  life — Owl  is  good  beef — Beat  out 
of  winter  quarters — Our  game-list — Reach  Fury  Beach — Escape  from 
Regent's  Inlet — In  Baffin's  Bay — Captain  Allen  Young's  journey — 
Disco ;  sad  disappointment — Part  from  our  Esquimaux  friends — 
Adieu  to  Greenland — Arrive  home. 

TO-DAY  (2nd  July)  I  took  a  long  and  delightful 
walk,  but  shot  only  two  ducks ;  Peterson  went 
in  another  direction,  and  got  nothing ;  Christian, 
after  toiling  all  day  in  his  kayak,  returned  with 
only  two  divers  and  a  duck.  Lately  he  has  ob 
tained  for  us  several  king  and  long-tailed  ducks 
(no  eider  ducks  have  been  seen),  two  red-throated 
divers,  and  two  brent  geese,  and  caught  an  er 
mine  in  its  summer  coat.  Yesterday  one  of  the 
men  brought  on  board  a  trout  weighing  2  Ibs. ; 
he  saw  a  glaucous  gull  and  a  fox  disputing  for  it ; 
the  former  seems  to  have  killed  and  brought  it 
to  land. 

The  water  now  washes  the  south  side  of  the 
Fox  Islands,  and  extends  to  the  south  point  of 
Long  Island.  The  month  of  June  has  been  some 
what  warmer  than  usual,  its  mean  temperature 
being  +35i°. 

9//j  — The  ship  has  been  thoroughly  cleaned  and 


JULY,  1859.  SIGNS  OF  RELEASE.  298 

restowed,  remaining  provisions  examined,  tanks 
filled  with  fresh  water,  12  tons  of  stone  ballast 
taken  in,  and  everything  brought  on  board  that 
was  landed  last  autumn.  Hobson  Is  the  only  one 
upon  the  sick  list ;  but  he  is  able  to  walk  about 
and  does  duty.  Very  few  birds,  and  only  one 
small  seal,  have  been  obtained  during  the  week  ; 
an  occasional  great  northern  diver  is  seen,  and  a 
rare  land  bird  has  been  shot.  We  cannot  dis 
cover  the  nests  of  either  ducks  or  geese,  and  the 
breeding  cliffs  of  the  gulls  being  inaccessible,  we 
have  not  got  any  eggs.  I  am  a  close  prisoner  at 
the  corner  of  my  table,  poring  over  my  observa 
tion  and  angle  book,  and  have  at  length  laid 
down  upon  paper  the  west  coast  of  King  Wil 
liam's  Land  to  my  satisfaction.  Tidal  observa 
tions  are  commenced ;  and  the  aneroid  and  mer 
curial  barometers  are  again  being  compared  in 
order  to  verify  the  former. 

16th.  Saturday  night. — We  are  now  almost  ready 
for  sea.  Thei?e  is  a  much  larger  space  of  water 
in  Bellot  Strait,  reaching  within  300  or  400  yards 
of  us.  Long  cracks  or  lanes  of  water  have  been 
seen  in  Prince  Regent's  Inlet.  The  decay  of  the 
ice  continues,  though  not  with  equal  rapidity, 
yet  with  very  satisfactory  despatch.  Westerly 
winds  and  clear  weather  prevail.  Christian  has 
seen  two  reindeer  this  week,  and  has  shot  a  very 
few  birds,  and  seven  seals.  As  these  creatures 
lie  basking  upon  the  ice,  he  crawls  up  to  them 
25* 


.294  SHOOTING  SEALS.  CHAP.  XVII 

behind  a  small  calico  screen,  fitted  upon  a  minia 
ture  sledge  about  a  foot  long,  on  which  there  is  a 
rest  for  the  muzzle  of  his  rifle,  and  a  slit  in  the 
calico  through  which  he  fires  it.  The  seals  afford 
an  average  weight  of  thirty  pounds  of  excellent 
fresh  meat,  which  we  relish  greatly,  and  consider 
much  better  suited  to  our  present  condition  than 
such  poor  venison  as  reindeer  would  furnish  at 
this  season.  A  single  hare  has  been  shot ;  the 
white  fur  has  nearly  all  disappeared,  and  left  ex 
posed  the  summer  coat  of  dull  lead  color.  Sev 
eral  small  birds  not  common  to  the  northward 
are  found  here.  Insects  abound ;  the  Doctor  is 
perpetually  in  chase,  unless  busily  occupied  in 
grubbing  up  plants.  Young  is  surveying  the 
harbor.  Hobson  fully  occupied  in  preparing  the 
ship  for  sea.  I  have  been  giving  some  attention 
to  the  engines  and  boiler,  and  hope,  with  the  help 
of  the  two  stokers,  to  be  able  to  make  use  of  our 
steam  power. 

The  men  have  received  my  hearty  thanks  for 
their  great  exertions  during  the  travelling  period. 
I  told  them  I  considered  every  part  of  our  search 
to  have  been  fully  and  efficiently  performed. 
Our  labors  have  determined  the  exact  position  of 
the  extreme  northern  promontory  of  the  conti 
nent  of  America ;  I  have  affixed  to  it  the  name 
of  Murchison,  after  the  distinguished  President  of 
the  Royal  Geographical  Society  —  the  strenuous 
advocate  for  this  "  further  search  "  —  and  the  able 


Walruses — A   Family   Party. 


JULY,  1859.  DEARTH  OF  ANIMAL  LIFE.  295 

champion  of  Lady  Franklin  when  she  needed  all 
the  support  which  private  friendship  and  public 
spirit  could  bestow. 

23rd.—  The  ice  in  Prince  Regent's  Inlet  is 
broken  up  into  pack,  but  the  prevalence  of  east 
erly  winds  keeps  it  in  close  upon  the  shore.  The 
ice  about  us  is  very  much  decayed,  holes  through 
it  in  many  places.  No  reindeer  seen  this  week, 
and  only  two  seals  procured ;  one  of  them  shot  by 
Christian,  the  other  was  killed  by  a  bear,  which 
ran  off  before  Samuel  could  come  within  shot  of 
him.  A  fox,  a  gull,  a  couple  of  ducks,  and  one  or 
two  lemmings,  complete  our  game  list  for  the 
week,  yet  our  two  Esquimaux  are  indefatigable  in 
the  pursuit.  We  eat  all  the  birds  and  seals  we 
can  shoot,  as  well  as  mustard  and  cress  as  fast  as 
we  can  grow  it,  but  the  quantity  is  very  small. 
We  sometimes  refresh  ourselves  with  a  salad  of 
sorrel-leaves,  or  roots  of  the  little  plant  with  lilac 
flower  of  snapdragon  shape,  named  Pcdicuhris 
hirsuta. 

The  seine  has  been  hauled  in  the  narrow  lake 
at  the  head  of  the  harbor,  but,  as  it  was  not  well 
managed,  only  a  dozen  small  trout  were  taken, 
though  several  were  seen.  We  have  tried  for  rock- 
cod,  but  without  success.  The  relics  of  the  lost 
expedition  have  been  aired,  exhibited  to  the  crew, 
labelled,  and  packed  away.  The  Doctor  has  been 
dredging  lately.  A  record  detailing  our  proceed- 


29 G  DEARTH  OF  ANIMAL  LIFE.          CHAP.  XVII 

ings  has  been  placed  in  a  cairn  upon  the  west 
point  of  Depot  Bay. 

1st  August,  —  A  long  continuance  of  unusually 
cairn,  bright,  arid  warm  weather  has  been  favor 
able  to  our  painting  and  cleaning  the  ship,  scrap 
ing  masts,  and  so  forth.  The  result  is  that  she 
looks  unusually  smart  and  gay,  and  our  impa 
tience  to  exhibit  her,  and  ourselves  at  home  is 
much  increased.  With  the  exception  of  a  few 
gulls,  and  a  duck,  our  hunters  have  shot  noth 
ing  lately,  although  constantly  out,  either  darting 
about  in  their  kayaks  or  ranging  over  the  hills ; 
in  fact  there  is  nothing  which  they  can  shoot ;  the 
ducks  are  tolerably  numerous,  but  extremely 
wild ;  the  valleys  are  respectably  clothed  with 
vegetation,  yet  only  one  animal  —  a  hare — has 
been  seen.  I  was  so  fortunate  as  to  shoot  a 
snowy  owl,  the  flesh  of  which  was  white  and  ten 
der,  but,  to  my  palate,  tasteless,  although  Peter- 
sen  considers  that  "  owl  is  the  best  beef  in  the 
country." 

On  Thursday  night  we  found  the  harbor-ice  to 
be  quietly  drifting  out,  of  course  taking  us  with 
it.  The  night  was  calm,  the  current  in  Bellot 
Strait  very  strong ;  we  were  almost  helpless 
under  the  circumstances,  and  therefore  felt  the 
clanger  of  our  position.  To  warp  the  ship  along 
the  ice-^dge,  out  of  the  way  of  the  shore  and 
rocks  as  it  turned  round  and  drifted  along  the 


AUG.  1859.  OUT  OF  WINTER  QUARTERS.  297 

cliffs  to  the  westward,  gave  us  some  hours'  occu 
pation.  At  length  it  stuck  fast  between  Fox  Isl 
and  and  the  main. 

At  turn  of  tide  on  Friday  morning  it  began  tc 
drift  eastward,  and  by  this  time  being  much 
broken  up,  and  a  breeze  coming  to  our  aid,  we 
managed  to  extricate  ourselves  and  reach  a  secure 
anchorage  in  Point  Kenedy. 

On  Saturday  night  some  ice  that  was  left  came 
drifting  out  of  the  inner  harbor,  and  obliged  us  to 
slip  our  cable ;  but  after  a  few  hours  we  regained 
our  berth  in  safety,  and  have  since  been  un 
disturbed.  There  is  no  immediate  prospect  of 
escape,  but  we  expect  a  prodigious  smashing  up 
of  the  ice  whenever  a  strong  wind  springs  up  to 
set  it  in  motion.  To-day  the  steam  was  got  up, 
and  with  the  help  of  our  two  stokers  I  worked 
the  engines  for  a  short  time.  It  is  very  cheering 
to  know  that  we  still  have  steam  power  at  our 
command,  although,  by  the  deaths  of  poor  Mr. 
Brand  and  Robert  Scott,  we  were  deprived  of  our 
engineer  and  engine-driver. 

The  mean  temperature  for  July  has  been  40°'14, 
which  is  above  the  average  for  this  region ;  the 
July  temperatures  have  usually  varied  from  36° 
to  42°. 

All  are  now  in  good  health,  but  Hobson  still  a 
little  lame.  The  issue  of  lemon-juice  has  been  re 
duced  to  the  ordinary  allowance  of  half  an  ounce 
daily  (as  we  have  but  little  that  is  really  good), 


293  WAITING  TO  ESCAPE.  CHAP.  XVIL 

lest  another  winter  should  become  inevitable, 
which,  I  can  devoutly  say,  may  God  forbid ! 

Monday  night,  Slk.  —  Very  anxiously  awaiting 
an  opportunity  to  escape.  We  have  constantly 
watched  the  ice  from  the  neighboring  hills,  includ 
ing  the  lofty  summit  of  Mount  Walker  —  named 
after  the  Doctor,  who  was  the  first  to  ascend  it 
(1123  feet)  —  from  which  Fury  Point  can  be  dis 
tinguished,  but  nothing  very  cheering  has  been 
seen.  We  had  a  N.E.  gale,  accompanied  by  rain 
and  a  considerable  fall  of  the  barometer,  a  few 
days  ago;  and  as  it  blew  freshly  from  the  westward 
this  morning,  I  went  to  a  hill-top  and  saw  that 
much  ice  had  been  broken  up  in  Brentford  Bay, 
and  that  there  were  streaks  of  water  along  the 
land  between  Possession  Point  and  Hazard  Inlet ; 
this  water,  however,  was  not  accessible  to  us. 

The  ice  about  Pemmican  Rock  was  much  in 
the  same  position  as  we  found  it  last  year,  but 
Ballot  Strait  was  perfectly  clear.  All  the  ice  in 
this  harbor,  in  Depot  Bay,  and  Hazard  Inlet,  is 
gone,  by  far  the  greater  part  having  decayed,  not 
drifted  away. 

La+er  in  the  day  and  from  loftier  hill-tops,  a 
good  deal  of  water  was  seen  off'  Cape  Garry,  and 
a  water-sky  beyond.  It  now  blows  very  strong 
ly  from  the  S.W.,  the  most  desirable  quarter ;  and 
as  the  anxious  desire  to  escape  has  become  op 
pressive,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  now  our 
hopes  have  become  extravagant.  We  may  even 


AUG.  1859.  GAME  LIST.  299 

make  a  start  to-morrow  !  On  tha  other  hand,  a 
car.eful  examination  of  our  provision  store  shows 
that,  should  we  be  obliged  to  spend  another  win 
ter  here,  we  must  curtail  our  allowance  of  meat 
—  fresh  and  salt  —  to  three-quarters  of  a  pound, 
and  have  to  use  but  very  indifferent  lemon-juice. 
The  spirits,  I  rejoice  to  say,  will  very  shortly  be 
entirely  expended. 

On  the  morning  of  the  3rd  instant,  when  the 
rain  ceased  and  N.E.  gale  sprang  up,  two  claps  of 
thunder  were  distinctly  heard ;  this  occurs  but 
very  rarely  in  these  latitudes.  There  is  ample 
occupation  for  the  men  but  not  much  for  the 
officers ;  as  for  myself,  I  write  a  great  deal,  and 
work  occasionally  at  our  chart  of  discoveries ;  the 
only  refreshment  I  indulge  in  is  an  occasional 
dive  into  packets  of  old  letters.  All  yesterday 
the  harbor  was  full  of  ice  set  in  by  southerly  and 
westerly  winds,  and  so  closely  packed  that  one 
might  have  walked  over  it  to  the  shore  ;  to-day  it 
has  nearly  all  drifted  out  again.  The  subjoined 
list  will  show  what  game  we  have  been  able  to 
obtain  by  constant  and  arduous  labor  from  the 
resources  of  these  regions  during  nearly  two 
years'  sojourn. 

GAME  LIST. 

8  Months  in  the  Pack,  1857-8.  I  j  11  Months  in  Port  Kenedy,  1858-9. 


Bears.  |  Seals. 
2     I     73 


Dovekies. 


Foxes. 

|Bears. 

Deer. 

Hares.  Foxes. 

Ptarmi 

Wild 

Seals. 

gan. 

Fowl. 

8 

9 

1    19 

82 

98 

18 

At  Port  Kenedy  several  ermines  and  lemmings  were  also  caught. 
The  ptarmigan  all  disappeared  after  1st  April. 


300  CRESSWELL  BAY.  CHAP.  XVII. 

Only  2  dovekics  were  seen,  1  in  winter,  and  1  in  sumnicn  plumage. 
A  few  seals  were  seen  as  early  as  the  month  of  February. 
Ducks,  geese,  and  gulls  were  the  usual  kind  of  wild  fowl  killed. 
During  the  4  months  occupied  in  sailing  from  Davis  Strait  to  Bellot 
Strait,  many  looms  and  rotchies,  and  5  or  6  hears  were  shot. 

Wednesday,  10/7*. --The  S.W.  wind  proved  a 
good  friend  to  us;  by  the  morning  of  the  Uth  it 
had  moved  the  ice  off  shore,  and  cleared  away  a 
passage  for  us  out  of  Brentford  Bay.  We  started 
under  steam  at  eleven  o'clock  yesterday  morning, 
and,  passing  round  Lond  Island,  made  sail  along 
the  land  towards  Cape  Garry,  there  being  a  chan 
nel  about  2  or  3  miles  wide  between  the  pack  and 
the  shore. 

The  wind  now  failed  us,  and  I  experienced 
some  little  difficulty  in  the  management  of  the 
engines  and  boiler ;  the  latter  primed  so  violently 
as  to  send  the  water  over  our  top  gallant  yard, 
and  the  tail  valve  of  the  condenser  by  some  means 
had  got  out  of  its  seat,  and  admitted  air  to  the 
condenser ;  but  eventually  we  got  the  engines 
to  work  well,  and  steamed  across  Cresswell  Bay 
during  the  night.  The  pack  rested  against  Fury 
Point,  and  an  east  wind  springing  up,  we  made 
fast  to  a  large  grounded  mass  of  ice  in  Adelaide 
Bay,  about  \  mile  off  shore,  and  in  3  fathoms 
water,  at  eleven  o'clock  this  morning.  Having 
managed  the  engines  for  twenty-four  consecutive 
hours,  I  was  not  sorry  to  get  into  bed.  We  were 
hardly  out  of  Brentford  Bay  when  fulmar  petrels 
and  white  whales  were  seen  ;  the  first  we  have 


AUG.  1859.  TRACES  OF  OUR  VISIT.  301 

noticed  for  eleven  and  a  half  months.  Dovekies 
are  likewise  abundant,  and  a  seal  has  already  been 
shot  Cresswell  Bay  is  perfectly  clear  of  ice,  but 
this  pale  limestone  land  is  the  perfection  of  steril 
ity,  even  with  the  rugged  hills  of  Brentford  Bay 
in  lively  recollection. 

Upon  the  east  side  of  Port  Kenedy  the  bones 
of  whales  were  found  in  two  places  a  mile  apart 
from  each  other;  the  lowest  of  them  was  180  feet 
above  the  sea,  the  second  was  more  than  300  feet 
high.  The  latter  I  examined,  and  found  a  jaw 
bone,  two  ribs,  a  joint  of  the  vertebrae,  and  frag 
ments  of  other  bones,  all  more  or  less  buried  in 
the  soil,  and  much  heavier  than  the  bones  of  a 
recent  animal ;  they  lay  within  40  or  60  yards  of 
each  other,  and  upon  a  little  flat  patch  of  rather 
rich  earth,  a  rocky  hill  above,  and  steep  slope 
below ;  —  they  are  also  nearly  a  mile  inland. 

Of  the  traces  which  we  have  left  behind  us,  the 
most  considerable  are  the  graves  of  our  two  ship 
mates  within  the  western  point  of  our  little  har 
bor  ;  they  were  tastefully  sodded  round,  and  plant 
ed  over  with  the  usual  Arctic  flowers.  There  is 
our  record  in  a  conspicuous  cairn  at  the  west 
point  of  Depot  or  Transition  Bay :  we  left  also 
three  cases  of  pemmican  near  the  east  end  of 
the  Long  Lake,  and  our  travelling  boat  near  its 
west  end,  at  the  head  of  False  Strait. 

Monday,  15/7*.  —  Strong  east  winds,  with  much 
rain,  have  imprisoned  us  here  for  the  last  four 
26 


302  A  WHITE  WHALE  SHOT.  CuAi.XVII 

days,  and  driven  the  whole  pack  close  in,  com 
pletely  filling  up  Cresswell  Bay.  We  remain  fast 
to  the  grounded  ice,  which  shields  us  from  pres 
sure,  otherwise  we  should  have  been  driven  irre 
trievably  on  shore.  A  couple  more  seals  and  a 
white  whale  have  been  shot ;  the  latter  measured 
loj  feet  long,  and  proved  to  be  a  female  of  ordi 
nary  dimensions,  and  of  an  uniform  cream  color ; 
the  eyes  are  extremely  small,  and  orifices  of  the 
ears  scarcely  large  enough  to  admit  a  crow-quill. 
We  dined  off  steaks  of  the  flesh,  and  prefer  it  to 
seal,  which  it  very  much  resembles,  but  it  is  not 
quite  so  tender ;  the  skin  is  greatly  prized  by  the 
Greenland ers  as  an  antiscorbutic ;  it  is  a  sort  of 
gristly  gelatinous  substance,  nearly  half  an  inch 
thick,  and  possessing  very  little  taste ;  fried  and 
eaten  with  fish-sauce,  it  reminded  me  of  cod 
sound,  though  not  so  good. 

The  blubber  fills  two  twenty-gallon  casks;  it 
produces  oil  of  a  quality  superior  to  seal  oil ;  not 
an  ounce  of  the  flesh  or  skin  of  this  huge  animal 
has  been  thrown  away,  the  men  having  a  whole 
some  dread  of  scurvy,  and  unbounded  confidence 
in  "blood-meat,"  such  as  this!  The  Doctor  has 
picked  up  a  few  fossils  very  similar  to  those  for 
merly  brought  home  from  Port  Leopold. 

To  our  great  joy  the  east  wind  died  away  this 
morning,  and  immediately  a  west  wind  sprang 
up,  which  very  quickly  freshened  to  a  smart  gale. 
At  four  o'clock  this  afternoon  we  were  able  to 


>^     Or 

•TJSfIVB'1 

AUG.  1859.  PASS  FURY  BEACH.  303 

^^^-CJFOB^^ 

nlake  sail,  the  ice  having  moved  about  3  miles 
off  shore.  Passed  within  a  mile  of  Fury  Beach 
two  hours  afterwards,  and  saw  the  framing  of  the 
house,  the  boats  and  casks  very  distinctly. 

11th.  —  After  passing  Fury  Beach  it  fell  calm, 
so  we  steamed  up  as  far  as  Batty  Bay.  On  Tues 
day  afternoon  we  were  off  Port  Leopold,  run 
ning  fast,  when  thick  fog  came  on,  and  we  got 
involved  in  loose  ice,  and  seriously  damaged  our 
rudder.  The  boats  and  stores  at  Port  Leopold 
appeared  to  remain  as  we  left  them  last  year. 
The  flag-staff  on  the  summit  of  North-east  Cape 
(over  Whale  Point)  is  still  standing,  but  not 
erect. 

Fog  and  ice  obstructed  our  progress  during 
the  night;  but  this  morning  when  I  came  on 
deck  at  eight  o'clock,  the  day  was  bright,  clear, 
and  charming ;  no  ice  visible,  except  about 
Leopold  Island,  which  was  now  some  miles  be 
hind  us.  Towards  evening  the  wind  became 
contrary. 

Sunday  evening,  2lst.  —  At  sea  —  out  of  sight  of 
land  ! 

On  the  19th  we  were  somewhat  delayed  by 
loose  ice  off  Cape  Hay,  but  by  noon  yesterday 
were  close  off  Cape  Burney,  and  whilst  almost 
becalmed  there,  a  mother  bear  swam  off  to  us 
with  two  interesting  cubs  about  the  size  of  very 
large  dogs.  Foolish  creatures !  a  volley  of  rifles 
decided  their  fate  in  a  very  few  seconds.  Not 


304  CAPTAIN  YOUNG'S  JOURNEY.       CHAP.  XVII. 

finding  any  whaling  vessels  off  Pond's  Inlet,  the 
land-ice  which  shelters  the  whales  having  all  dis 
appeared,  we  therefore  concluded  that  the  whalers 
had  left  in  consequence,  so,  without  seeking  for 
them  further  south,  at  once  changed  our  course 
for  Disco. 

To-day  only  a  few  icebergs  have  been  seen. 
There  is  a  good  deal  of  swell,  so  we  tumble 
about.  Roast  veal  has  appeared  amongst  the 
delicacies  of  our  table  since  the  battue  of  yes 
terday,  and  Christian  has  asked  for  a  portion 
of  the  old  bear  to  carry  home  to  his  mother. 
Bear's  flesh  is  really  considered  a  delicacy  in 
Greenland. 

25/A.  —  Becalmed  off  Hare  Island,  and  getting 
the  steam  ready.  We  are  only  108  miles  from 
Godhavn,  and  the  anxiety  to  clutch  our  letters 
has  become  intolerable.  No  pack-ice  has  been 
met  with  in  our  passage  across  Baffin's  Bay,  but 
many  icebergs.  This  morning  the  lofty  snow- 
clad  land  of  Noursoak  and  Disco  was  beauti 
fully  distinct;  and  at  the  same  time  the  wind 
died  away,  leaving  us,  at  least,  the  opportunity 
to  contemplate  at  our  leisure  their  gloomy  gran 
deur. 

2G/A.  —  Steamed  for  ten  hours  last  night.  Fair 
winds  and  calms  have  alternated  since  then,  but 
this  evening  we  are  within  20  miles,  and  hope 
soon  to  get  into  port.  I  have  been  reading  over 
Young's  report  of  his  spring  journey.  It  com« 


AUG.  1859.  CAPTAIN  YOUNG'S  JOURNEY.  305 

prises  seventy-eight  days  of  sledge-travelling,  and 
certainly  under  most  discouraging  circumstances. 
Leaving  the  ship  on  7th  April,  he  crossed  the 
western  strait  to  Prince  of  Wales'  Land,  and 
thence  traced  its  shore  to  the  south  and  west 
On  reaching  its  southern  termination  —  Cape 
Swinburne,  so  named  in  honor  of  Rear-Admiral 
Swinburne,  a  much-esteemed  friend  of  Sir  J. 
Franklin,  and  one  of  the  earliest  supporters  of 
this  final  expedition  —  he  describes  the  land  as 
extremely  low  and  deeply  covered  with  snow,  the 
heavy  grounded  hummocks  which  fringed  its  mo 
notonous  coast  alone  indicating  the  line  of  demar 
cation  betwixt  land  and  sea.  To  the  north-east  of 
this  terminal  cape  the  sea  was  covered  with  level 
iloe  formed  in  the  fall  of  last  year,  whilst  all  to 
the  north-westward  of  the  same  cape  was  pack 
consisting  of  heavy  ice-masses,  formed  perhaps 
years  ago  in  far  distant  and  \vider  seas. 

Young  attempted  to  cross  the  channel  which 
he  discovered  between  Prince  of  Wales'  Island 
and  Victoria  Land  ;  but  from  the  rugged  nature 
of  the  ice,  found  it  quite  impracticable  with  the 
means  and  time  remaining  at  his  disposal.  Young 
expresses  his  firm  conviction  that  this  channel  is 
so  constantly  choked  up  with  unusually  heavy  ice 
as  to  be  quite  unnavigable  ;  it  is,  in  fact,  a  contin 
uous  ice-stream  from  the  N.W.  His  opinion  coin 
cides  with  my  own,  and  with  those  of  Captains 
Ominanney  and  Osborn,  when  those  officers  ex- 


306  CAPTAIN  YOUNG'S  JOURNEY.         CHAP.  XVII. 

plored  the  north-western  shores  of  Prince  of 
Wales'  Land  in  1851. 

Fearing  that  his  provisions  might  run  short  he 
sent  back  one  sledge  with  four  men,  and  con 
tinued  his  march  with  only  one  man  and  the 
dogs  for  forty  days !  They  were  obliged  to 
build  a  snow-hut  each  night  to  sleep  in,  as  the 
tent  was  sent  back  with  the  men ;  but  latterly, 
when  the  weather  became  more  mild,  they  pre 
ferred  sleeping  on  the  sledge,  as  the  constructing 
of  a  snow-hut  usually  occupied  them  for  two 
hours.  Young  completed  the  exploration  of  this 
coast  beyond  the  point  marked  upon  the  charts 
as  Osborn's  farthest,  up  nearly  to  lat.  73°  N.,  but 
110  cairn  was  found.  Young,  however,  recognized 
the  remarkably  shaped  conical  hills  spoken  of  by 
Osborn,  when  he  at  his  farthest,  in  1851,  struck 
off  to  the  westward. 

The  coast-line  throughout  was  extremely  low ; 
and  in  the  thick  disagreeable  weather  which  he 
almost  constantly  experienced,  it  was  often  a 
matter  of  great  difficulty  to  prevent  straying 
off  the  coast-line  inland.  He  commenced  his 
return  on  the  llth  May,  and  reached  the  ship  on 
7th  June,  in  wretched  health  and  depressed  in 
spirits. 

Directly  his  health  was  partially  re-established, 
he,  in  spite  of  the  Doctor's  remonstrances,  as  I 
have  before  said,  again  set  out  on  the  10th  with 
his  party  of  men  and  the  dogs,  to  complete  the 


AUG.  1859.  HOBSON'S  JOURNEY.  307 

exploration  of  both  shores  of  the  continuation  of 
Peel  Sound,  between  the  position  of  the  '  Fox ' 
and  the  points  reached  by  Sir  James  Ross  in 
1849,  and  Lieutenant  Browne  in  1851.  This  he 
accomplished  without  finding  any  trace  of  the 
lost  expedition,  and  the  parties  were  again  on 
board  by  28th  June.  The  ice  travelled  over  in 
this  last  journey  was  almost  all  formed  last  au 
tumn. 

The  extent  of  coast-line  explored  by  Captain 
Young  amounts  to  380  miles,  whilst  that  discov 
ered  by  Hobson  and  myself  amounts  to  nearly 
420  miles,  making  a  total  of  800  geographical 
miles  of  new  coast-line  which  we  have  laid  down. 

Hobson's  report  is  a  minute  record  of  all  that 
occurred  during  his  journey  of  seventy-four  days, 
and  includes  a  list  of  all  the  relics  brought  on 
board,  or  seen  by  him.  Pie  suffered  very  severely 
in  health :  wrhen  only  ten  days  out  from  the  ship, 
traces  of  scurvy  appeared  ;  when  a  month  absent 
he  walked  lame  ;  towards  the  latter  end  of  the 
journey  he  was  compelled  to  allow  himself  to  be 
dragged  upon  the  sledge,  not  being  able  to  walk 
more  than  a  few  yards  at  a  time ;  and  on  arriving 
at  the  ship  on  the  14th  June,  poor  Hobson  was 
unable  to  stand.  How  strongly  this  bears  upon 
the  last  sad  march  of  the  lost  crews !  And  yet 
Hobson's  food  throughout  the  whole  journey  was 
pemmican  of  the  very  best  quality,  the  most 
nutritious  description  of  food  that  we  know  of! 


308  HOBSON'S  JOURNEY.  CHAP  XVII. 

and  varied  occasionally  by  such  game  as  they 
were  able  to  shoot.  In  spite  of  this  fresh-meat 
diet,  scurvy  advanced  with  rapid  strides. 

,  After  leaving  me  at  Cape  Victoria,  he  says  — 
"  No  difficulty  was  experienced  in  crossing  James 
Ross  Strait.  The  ice  appeared  to  be  of  but  one 
year's  growth  ;  and  although  it  was  in  many  places 
much  crushed  up,  we  easily  found  smooth  leads 
through  the  lines  of  hummocks ;  many  very  heavy 
masses  of  ice,  evidently  of  foreign  formation,  have 
been  here  arrested  in  their  drift :  so  large  are  they 
that,  in  the  gloomy  weather  we  experienced,  they 
were  often  taken  for  islands." 

Again,  at  Cape  Felix,  he  observes,  — "  The 
pressure  of  the  ice  is  severe,  but  the  ice  itself  is 
not  remarkably  heavy  in  character ;  the  shoalness 
of  the  coast  keeps  the  line  of  pressure  at  consid 
erable  distance  from  the  beach  ;  to  the  northward 
of  the  island  the  ice,  as  far  as  I  could  see,  was 
very  rough,  and  crushed  up  into  large  masses." 
Here  we  notice  the  gradual  change  in  the  char 
acter  of  the  ice  as  Hobson  left  the  Boothian  shore 
and  advanced  towards  Victoria  Strait.  The  u  very 
heavy  masses  of  ice,  evidently  of  foreign  forma 
tion,"  had  drifted  in  from  the  N.W.  through 
JVP'Clure  Strait ;  Victoria  Strait  was  full  of  it ; 
and  Hobson's  description  of  the  ice  he  passed 
over  clearly  illustrates  how  Franklin,  leaving 
clear  water  behind  him,  pressed  his  ships  into  the 
pack  when  he  attempted  to  force  through  Victoria- 


AUG.  1859.  HOBSON'S  JOURNEY.  309 

Strait.  How  very  different  the  result  might  arid 
probably  ivould  have  been  had  he  known  of  the 
existence  of  a  ship-channel,  sheltered  by  King 
William  Island  from'  this  tremendous  "polar 
pack"! 

Hobson  left  King  William  Island  on  the  last 
day  of  May,  having  spent  thirty-one  days  on  its 
desolate  shores.  During  that  period  one  bear  and 
five  willow  grouse  were  shot ;  one  wolf  and  a  few 
foxes  were  seen.  One  poor  fox  was  either  so  des 
perately  hungry,  or  so  charmed  with  the  rare  sight 
of  animated  beings,  that  he  played  about  the 
party  until  the  dogs  snapped  him  up,  although  in 
harness  and  dragging  the  sledge  at  the  time.  A 
few  gulls  were  seen,  but  not  until  after  the  first 
week  in  June. 

I  have  already  explained  how  Hobson  found 
the  records  and  the  boat :  he  exercised  his  dis 
cretionary  power  with  sound  judgment,  and  com 
pleted  his  search  so  well,  that,  in  coming  over 
the  same  ground  after  him,  I  could  not  discover 
any  trace  that  had  escaped  him. 

I  quite  agree  with  him  that  there  may  be 
many  small  articles  beneath  the  snow;  but  that 
cairns,  graves,  or  any  conspicuous  objects  could 
exist  upon  so  low  and  uniform  a  shore,  without 
our  having  seen  them,  is  almost  impossible. 

Sunday  evening,  29th. —  Calm,  warm,  lovely, 
weather ;  and  we  are  thoroughly  enjoying  it  in 
.the  quiet  security  of  Lievely  harbor,  or  Godhavn. 


310  LETTERS  FROM  ENGL.  vND.         CHAP.  XVII. 

Although  Friday  night  was  dark,  we  managed  to 
find  out  the  harbor's  mouth,  and  slowly  steamed 
into  it.  The  inhabitants  were  awoke  by  Petersen 
demanding  our  letters,  but  great  indeed  was  our 
disappointment  at  finding  only  a  very  few  letters 
and  two  or  three  papers,  and  these  for  the  officers 
only!  It  appears  that  on  the  arrival  of  the 
whalers  in  early  spring,  the  ice  prevented  their 
usual  communication  with  the  settlement,  there 
fore  the  letters  on  board  of  them  were  unavoida 
bly  carried  northward.  Some  few,  however,  which 
came  out  in  the  'Truelove,'  were  landed  at  the 
neighboring  settlement  of  Noursoak,  and  from 
thence  were  sent  back  to  Godhavn. 

It  is  rather  a  nervous  thing  opening  the  first 
letters  after  a  lapse  of  more  than  two  years.  We 
received  them  in  our  beds  at  three  o'clock  in  the 
morning ;  and  when  we  met  at  breakfast  were 
able,  thank  God !  to  congratulate  each  other  upon 
the  receipt  of  cheering  home  news.  Lady  Frank 
lin  and  Miss  Cracroft  wrote  to  me  from  Bourne 
mouth  in  March  last.  They  have  travelled  more 
than  we  have,  I  think,  having  visited  almost 
all  the  countries  bordering  the  Mediterranean 
and  Black  Seas,  posted  through  the  Crimea,  and 
steamed  up  the  Danube !  I  am  much  gratified  to 
learn  that  I  have  been  elected  a  member  of  the 
Royal  Yacht  Squadron  during  my  absence. 

Yesterday  morning  I  called  upon  the  inspector, 
Mr.  Olrik,  who  has  been  home  to  Denmark  since  I 


AUG.  1859.  STAY  AT  GODHAVN.  311 

saw  him  last  spring.  In  the  autumn  he  took  Mrs. 
Olrik  and  his  family  to  Copenhagen,  and  has  but 
just  returned  alone.  He  received  me  with  his 
usual  kindness,  and  promised  me  such  supplies  as 
we  require.  It  so  happens  that  none  of  my  expect 
ed  business  letters  have  arrived,  so  that  I  am  not 
accredited  in  the  slightest  degree,  nor  is  there 
any  hint  thrown  out  as  to  where  I  am  to  take  the 
'Fox.'  Mr.  Olrik  gave  me  a  large  bundle  of 
<  Illustrated  London  News,'  which  was  exceed 
ingly  acceptable,  and  told  us  that  Austria  was  at 
war  with  France  and  Sardinia.  By  the  latest 
news  a  battle  had  been  fought  and  won  by  the 
latter  Powers.  Most  fortunately  a  (  Navy  List ' 
had  come  out  to  Hobson,  otherwise  I  think  we 
should  have  been  utterly  brokenhearted.  We 
study  its  pages  daily,  and  delight  in  noticing  the 
advancement  of  our  many  friends. 

1st  Sept.,  Thursday  nig  Jit.  —  At  sea,  on  the  passage, 
and  already  enjoying,  by  anticipation,  the  pleas 
ures  of  home !  Five  busy  days  were  spent  in 
Godhavn,  supplying  our  little  wants,  in  as  far  as 
they  could  be  supplied,  including  100  gallons  of 
light  beer.  The  natives  were  very  useful,  the 
men  bringing  off  water,  stone  ballast,  and  sand, 
and  a  troop  of  Esquimaux  girls  scrubbing  the 
paintwork  and  the  decks. 

Each  evening  the  men  went  on  shore,  taking 
with  them  a  very  limited  quantity  of  rum-punch 
for  the  ladies,  and  danced  for  several  hours  in  a 


312    PART  FROM  OUR  ESQUIMAUX  I RIENDS.    CHAP.  XVIL 

large  store ;  whilst  the  officers  and  myself  spent 
the  time  with  Mr.  Olrik  or  the  other  Danish  gen 
tlemen  —  Messrs.  Andersen,  Bulbrue,  and  Tyner. 
Nothing  could  exceed  their  kindness  to  us,  whilst 
their  good  humor  and  their  anecdotes,  sometimes 
expressed  in  quaint  English,  greatly  amused  us, 
We  shall  always  retain  very  agreeable  recollec 
tions  of  Godhavn ;  twice  has  it  been  to  us  an  Arc 
tic  home. 

Mr.  Petersen's  nieces,  the  belles  of  the  place, 
came  on  board  (Miss  Sophia  with  scented  cambric 
handkerchief  and  gloves  —  in  other  respects  she 
adheres  to  the  Esquimaux  costume);  they  were 
pleased  with  the  organ,  although  it  is  out  of  re 
pair,  and  they  sang  together  very  sweetly  for  us. 
Our  Esquimaux  shipmates,  Christian  and  Samuel, 
were  discharged,  and,  by  their  own  request  their 
wages  given  in  charge  to  Mr.  Olrik  and  Mr.  Bui- 
brue ;  they  seemed  to  understand  the  importance 
of  husbanding  their  wrealth.  Christian  said  he 
thought  it  would  not  be  all  spent  under  three 
years.  First  of  all  he  intended  buying  a  rifle  for 
his  brother,  arid  then  some  wood  to  build  a  house 
for  himself. 

I  was  gratified  very  much  when  I  heard  them 
say  that  the  men  had  treated  them  very  well  — 
"  all  the  same  as  brothers ; "  and  they  really 
seemed  sorry  to  leave  the  ship ;  they  would  come 
on  board  and  look  gravely  about  at  everything 
us  if  regretting  the  coming  separation.  Even 


SEPT.  1859.  LEAVE  GODHAVN.  313 

our  poor  dogs  seemed  to  think  the  ship  their  nat 
ural  abode  ;  although  landed  at  the  settlement, 
they  soon  ran  round  the  harbor  to  the  point  near 
est  the  ship,  and  there,  upon  the  rocks,  spent  the 
whole  period  of  our  stay. 

On  Tuesday  night  we  set  off  some  fireworks  on 
shore  to  amuse  the  natives,  for  I  intended  sailing 
next  day,  but  the  wind  prevented  my  doing  so. 
The  last  day  was  spent  in  the  interchange  of 
presents  between  our  Danish  friends  and  our 
selves  ;  indeed,  the  sincere  hearty  good  feeling 
which  existed  between  every  individual  in  the 
4  Fox '  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  settlement  was 
as  gratifying  as  apparent.  Almost  the  only  fresh 
supplies  obtained  here  were  rock  cod  and  salmon- 
trout  from  Disco  fiord.  During  our  stay  the 
weather  was  delightful;  indeed  it  was  the  first 
really  fine  weather  they  had  experienced  at  God- 
havn  during  the  present  season,  the  summer  hav 
ing  been  cold  and  wet. 

10/7*  Sept.,  Saturday  night. — To-day  we  passed 
to  the  eastward  of  Cape  Farewell,  but  about  100 
miles  to  the  south  of  it.  The  last  iceberg  was 
seen  to-day ;  and  now  wre  are  running  along 
swiftly  before  a  pleasant  N.W.  breeze.  Hitherto 
we  have  had  every  variety  of  wind  and  weather, 
from  a  calm  to  a  gale,  but  generally  the  wind  has 
been  favorable.  The  change  of  temperature  is 
already  perceptible. 

Saturday  night \  Yiili  Sept.  —  A  week  of  favora- 
27 


314  VOYAGE  HOME.  CHAP.  XVII. 

ble  gales  has  brought  us  from  Cape  Farewell  to 
within  400  miles  of  Land's  End,  or  about  1100 
miles  of  distance.  But  such  rough  weather  is 
not  pleasant  in  so  small  a  vessel,  however  much 
"like  a  duck  "she  maybe;  and  our  two  years* 
sojourn  in  the  still  waters  of  the  frozen  North  has 
made  us  very  susceptible  of  the  change. 


CONCLUSION.  315 


CONCLUSION. 


WE  sailed  all  the  way  home  from  Greenland,  yet 
the  <FoxJ  made  the  passage  in  only  nineteen 
days,  arriving  in  the  English  Channel  on  the  20th 
September;  on  the  evening  of  the  21st  I  reached 
London  (having  landed  at  Portsmouth),  and  made 
known  to  the  Admiralty  the  result  of  my  voyage. 

On  the  23rd  September  the  '  Fox '  was  taken 
into  dock  at  Blackwall ;  and,  through  the  kind 
ness  and  promptitude  of  the  Lords  of  the  Admi 
ralty,  I  was  enabled  on  the  27th,  when  the  crew 
were  assembled  for  the  last  time,  to  present  the 
Arctic  medal  to  such  of  my  companions  as  had 
not  already  received  it  for  previous  Arctic  ser 
vice,  and  also  to  inform  Lieutenant  Hobson  that 
his  promotion  to  the  rank  of  Commander  would 
speedily  take  place. 

I  will  not  intrude  upon  the  reader,  who  has 
followed  me  through  the  pages  of  this  simple 
narrative,  any  description  of  my  feelings  on  find 
ing  the  enthusiasm  with  which  we  were  all  re 
ceived  on  landing  upon  our  native  shores.  The 
blessing  of  Providence  had  attended  our  efforts, 


316  CONCLUSION. 

and  more  than  a  full  measure  of  approval  from 
our  friends  and  countrymen  has  been  our  reward. 
For  myself  the  testimonial  given  me  by  the  offi 
cers  and  crew  of  the  '  Fox '  has  touched  me  per 
haps  'more  than  all.  The  purchase  of  a  gold 
chronometer,  for  presentation  to  me,  was  the  first 
use  the  men  made'  of  their  earnings ;  and  as  long 
as  I  live  it  will  remind  me  of  that  perfect  har 
mony,  that  mutual  esteem  and  goodwill,  which 
made  our  ship's  company  a  happy  little  commu 
nity,  and  contributed  materially  to  the  success  of 
the  expedition. 

The  names  I  have  given  to  my  discoveries  are, 
with  the  exception  of  those  by  which  I  have  en 
deavored  to  honor  the  members  of  the  lost  expe 
dition,  the  names  of  active  supporters  of  the 
recent  search,  and  friends  of  Franklin  and  his 
companions,  though  such  names  are  far  from 
exhausting  the  number  of  those  who  have  the 
highest  claims  to  distinction  on  both  grounds. 

It  will  be  observed  that  I  have  refrained  from 
repeating  names  which  have  already  been  com 
memorated  by  preceding  commanders,  and  which 
therefore  are  already  in  our  charts.  Besides 
the  individuals  already  mentioned  in  the  nar 
rative,  Sir  Thomas  D.  Acland,  one  of  the  most 
zealous  promoters  of  the  search,  both  in  and 
out  of  the  House  of  Commons ;  Monsieur  De 
la  Roquette,  Yice-President  of  the  Geographical 
Society  of  Paris,  and  author  of  an  interesting  bio- 


CONCLUSION.  317 

graphy  of  Franklin  ;  Rear-Admiral  Fitzroy ;  and 
Major-General  Pasley,  RE.,  stand  high  amongst 
those  whom  it  has  been  my  privilege  to  honor. 

Although  much  talent  has  been  brought  to 
bear  upon  the  deciphering  of  the  letters  found  in 
a  pocketbook  near  Cape  Herschel  (page  248  ante\ 
yet,  from  their  being  so  very  much  defaced  by 
time,  only  a  few  detached  sentences  have  been 
made  out,  and  these  do  not  in  the  slightest  de 
gree  refer  to  the  proceedings  of  the  lost  expedi 
tion. 

It  will  be  seen  that  I  have  noticed  (page  260) 
the  discrepancy  between  the  number  of  souls  ac 
counted  for  by  the  Point  Victory  Record,  and  the 
generally  received  opinion  that  138  individuals 
sailed  in  the  '  Erebus '  and  '  Terror/ 

I  am  now  enabled  to  state,  on  the  authority 
of  the  Admiralty,  that  only  one  hundred  and 
thirty-four  individuals  left  the  United  Kingdom, 
and  of  these  five  men  subsequently  returned : 
one  by  H.M.S. '  Rattler/  and  four  by  the  transport 
'  Barretto  Junior;'  so  that  only  one  hundred  and 
twenty-nine  —  the  exact  number  mentioned  in 
the  record  —  actually  entered  the  ice.  The  five 
invalids  were  — 

From  H.M.S.  «  Terror,'  John  Brown,  Able  seaman. 

"  Robert  Carr,  Armorer. 

"  James  Elliot,  Sail  maker. 

William  Aitken,  Marine. 
From  H.M.S.  'Erebus,'  Thomas  Birt,  Armorer. 

27* 


318  CONCLUSION. 

The  relics  we  have  brought  home  ha\  e  been 
deposited  by  the  Admiralty  in  the  United  Service 
Institution,  and  now  form  a  national  memento  —  • 
the  most  simple  and  most  touching  —  of  those 
heroic  men  who  perished  in  the  path  of  duty, 
but  not  until  they  had  achieved  the  grand  object 
of  their  voyage,  —  the  Discovery  of  the  North-  West 
Passage. 


London,  2&h  Nov.  1859. 


APPENDIX. 


No.  I. 

A  LETTER  TO  VISCOUNT  PALMERSTON,  K.G.,  &c., 
FROM  LADY  FRANKLIN. 

60,  Pall  Mall,  December  2,  1856. 

MY  LORD, — 

I  trust  I  may  be  permitted,  as  the  widow  of  Sir 
John  Franklin,  to  draw  the  attention  of  Her  Majesty's 
Government  to  the  unsettled  state  of  a  question  which 
a  few  months  ago  was  under  their  consideration,  and 
to  express  a  well-grounded  hope  that  a  final  effort  may 
be  made  to  ascertain  the  fate  and  recover  the  remains 
of  my  husband's  expedition. 

Your  Lordship  will  allow  me*  to  remind  you  that  a 
Memorial*  with  this  object  in  view  (of  which  I  enclose 
a  printed  copy)  was  early  in  June  last  presented  to? 
and  kindly  received  by  you.  It  had  been  signed 
within  forty-eight  hours  by  all  the  leading  men  of 
science  then  in  London  who  had  an  opportunity  of 
seeing  it,  and  might  have  received  an  indefinite  aug 
mentation  of  worthy  names  had  not  the  urgency  of  the 
question  forbidden  delay.  To  the  above  names  were 
appended  those  of  the  Arctic  officers  who  had  been 
personally  engaged  in  the  search,  and  who,  though 

*  See  Appendix  II. 


.320  APPENDIX.  No.  I. 

absent,  were  known  to  be  favorable  to  another  effort 
for  its  completion.  And  though  that  united  applica 
tion  obtained  no  immediate  result,  it  was  felt,  and  by 
no  one  more  strongly  than  myself,  that  it  never  could 
be  utterly  wasted. 

I  venture  also  to  allude  to  a  leiter  of  my  own  ad 
dressed  to  the  Lords  Commissioners  of  the  Admiralty 
in  April  last,  and  a  copy  of  which  accompanied,  I  be 
lieve,  the  Memorial  to  your  Lordship,  wherein  I  ear 
nestly  deprecated  any  premature  adjudication  of  the 
reward  claimed  by  Dr.  Rae,  on  the  ground  that  the 
fate  of  my  husband's  expedition  was  not  yet  ascer 
tained,  and  that  it  was  due  both  to  the  living  and  the 
dead  to  complete  a  search  which  had  been  hitherto 
pursued  under  the  greatest  disadvantage,  for  want  of 
the  clue  which  was  now  for  the  first  time  in  our  hands. 

The  Memorial  above  alluded  to,  and  my  own  letter 
of  earlier  date,  had  not  yet  received  any  reply,  when, 
in  the  month  of  July,  the  Lords  of  the  Admiralty 
caused  prompt  inquiries  to  be  made  as  to  the  possi 
bility  of  equipping  a  ship  at  that  advanced  season, 
in  time  for  effective  operations  in  the  field  of  search. 
The  result  was  that  it  was  pronounced  to  be  too  late, 
and  the  subject  was  dismissed  for  that  season. 

Upon  this  I  addressed  a  letter  to  the  Board  (of 
which  I  take  the  liberty  to  enclose  a  copy),  respectfully 
showing  that  by  this  unfortunate  delay  the  opportunity 
had  also  been  taken  from  me  of  sending  out  a  vessel 
at  my  own  cost,  a  measure  which  1  had  previously  felt 
myself  obliged  to  state  to  their  Lordships  would  be  the 
alternative  of  any  adverse  decision  on  their  part.  I 
pleaded  therefore,  as  the  only  remedy  for  the  loss  of 
an  entire  summer  season,  that;  the  route  by  Behring 
Straits  was  by  some  of  the  most  competent  Arctic 


No.  I.  APPENDIX.  321 

officers  considered  preferable  to  the  eastern  route,  and 
that  the  equipment  of  a  vessel  for  this  direction  need 
not  take  place  before  the  close  of  the  year. 

in  reply,  their  Lordships  caused  me  to  be  informed 
that  "  they  had  come  to  the  decision  not  to  send  any 
expedition  to  the  Arctic  regions  in  the  present  year." 

This  communication,  however,  was  in  answer  merely 
to  my  own  letter.  The  Memorialists  had  as  yet  re 
ceived  no  reply,  and  accordingly  the  President  of  the 
Royal  Society  put  a  question  respecting  the  Memorial 
in  the  House  of  Lords  at  the  close  of  the  session, 
which  drew  from  one  of  Her  Majesty's  Ministers  ( Lord 
Stanley),  after  some  preliminary  observations,  the  as 
surance  that  Her  Majesty's  Government  would  give 
the  subject  their  serious  consideration  during  the  re 
cess.  I  may  be  permitted  to  add,  that,  in  the  con 
versation  which  followed,  Lord  Stanley  expressed  him 
self  as  very  favorably  disposed  towards  a  proposition 
made  to  him  by  Lord  Wrottesley,  that,  in  the  event  of 
there  being  no  Government  expedition,  I  should  be  as 
sisted  in  fitting  out  my  own  expedition  ;  an  assurance 
which  Lord  Wrottesley  had  the  kindness  to  communi 
cate  to  me  by  letter. 

But,  my  Lord,  as  nothing  has  occurred  within  the 
last  few  months  to  weaken  the  reasons  which  induced 
the  Admiralty,  early  in  July  last,  to  contemplate  an 
other  final  effort,  and  as  they  put  it  aside  at  that  time 
on  the  sole  ground  that  it  was  too  late  to  equip  a  ves 
sel  for  that  season,  I  trust  it  will  be  felt  that  I  am  not 
endeavoring  to  re-open  a  closed  question,  but  merely 
to  obtain  the  settlement  of  one  which  has  not  ceased 
to  be,  and  is  even  now,  under  favorable  consideration. 
The  time  has  arrived,  howsver,  when  I  trust  I  may  be 

v 


322  APPENDIX.  No.  1. 

pardoned  for  pressing  your  Lordship,  with  whom  1 
believe  the  question  rests,  for  a  decision,  since  by 
further  delay  even  my  own  efforts  may  be  paralyzed. 

I  have  cherished  the  hope,  in  common  with  others, 
that  we  are  not  waiting  in  vain.  Should,  however, 
that  decision  unfortunately  throw  upon  me  the  respon 
sibility  and  the  cost  of  sending  out  a  vessel  myself,  I 
beg  to  assure  your  Lordship  that  I  shall  not  shrink, 
either  from  that  weighty  responsibility,  or  from  the 
sacrifice  of  my  entire  available  fortune  for  the  purpose, 
supported  as  I  am  in  my  convictions  by  such  high 
authorities  as  those  whose  opinions  are  on  record  in 
your  Lordship's  hands,  and  by  the  hearty  sympathy  of 
many  more. 

But  before  I  take  upon  myself  so  heavy  an  obliga 
tion,  it  is  my  bounden  duty  to  entreat  Her  Majesty's 
Government  not  to  disregard  the  arguments  which 
have  led  so  many  competent  and  honorable  men  to 
feel  that  our  country's  honor  is  not  satisfied,  whilst  a 
mystery  which  has  excited  the  sympathy  of  the  civil 
ized  world,  remains  uncleared.  Nor  less  would  I  en 
treat  you  to  consider  what  must  be  the  unsatisfactory 
consequences,  if  any  endeavors  should  be  made  to 
quench  all  further  efforts  for  this  object. 

It  cannot  be  that  this  long-vexed  question  would 
thereby  be  set  at  rest,  for  it  would  still  be  true  that  in 
a  certain  circumscribed  area  within  the  Arctic  circle, 
approachable  alike  from  the  east,  and  from  the  west, 
and  sure  to  be  attained  by  a  combination  of  both 
movements,  lies  the  solution  of  our  unhappy  country 
men's  fate.  While  such  is  the  case,  the  question  will 
never  die.  I  believe  that  again  and  again  would  efforts 
be  made  to  reach  that  spot,  and  that  the  Government 


No.  I,  APPENDIX.  323 

could  not  look  on  as  unconcerned  spectators,  nor  be 
relieved  in  public  opinion  of  the  responsibility  they  had 
prematurely  cast  off. 

But  I  refrain  from  pursuing  this  argument,  though, 
if  any  illustration  were  wanting  of  its  truth,  I  think  it 
might  be  fouhd  in  the  events  that  are  passing  before 
our  eyes. 

It  is  now  about  two  years  ago  that  one  of  Her 
Majesty's  Arctic  ships  was  abandoned  in  the  ice.  In 
due  time  this  ship  floated  away,  was  picked  up  by  an 
American  whaler,  carried  into  an  American  port,  and 
(all  property  in  her  having  been  relinquished  by  the 
Admiralty)  was  purchased  of  her  rescuers  by  the 
American  Government,  by  whom  she  has  been  lav 
ishly  re-equipped,  and  is  now  on  her  passage  to  Eng 
land,  a  free  gift  to  the  Queen.  The  '  Resolute '  is 
about  to  be  delivered  up  in  Portsmouth  harbor,  not 
merely  in  evidence  of  the  cordial  relation  existing  be 
tween  the  two  countries,  but  as  a  lively  token  of  the 
deep  interest  and  sympathy  of  the  Americans  in  that 
great  cause  of  humanity  in  which  they  have  so  nobly 
borne  their  part.  The  resolution  of  Congress  expressly 
states  this  motive,  and  indeed  there  could  be  no  other, 
as  it  is  well  known  that  for  any  purpose  but  the  Arctic 
service  those  expensive  equipments  would  be  perfectly 
useless  and  require  removal. 

My  Lord,  you  will  not  let  this  rescued  and  restored 
ship,  emblematic  of  so  many  enlightened  and  generous 
sentiments,  fail,  even  partially,  in  her  significant  mis 
sion.  I  venture  to  hope  that  she  will  be  accepted  in 
the  spirit  in  which  she  is  sent.  I  humbly  trust  that 
the  American  people,  and  especially  that  philanthropic 
citizen  who  has  spent  so  largely  of  his  private  fortune 
in  the  search  for  tho  lost  ships,  and  to  whom  was  corn- 


324  APPENDIX.  No.  I. 

mitted  by  his  Government  the  entire  charge  of  the 
equipment  of  the  i  Resolute,'  will  be  rewarded  for  this 
signal  act  of  sympathy,  by  seeing  her  restored  to  her 
original  vocation,  so  that  she  may  bring  back  from  the 
Arctic  seas,  if  not  some  living  remnant  of  our  long-lost 
countrymen,  yet  at  least  the  proofs  that  they  have 
nobly  perished. 

I  need  not  add  that  we  have  as  yet  no  proofs,  what 
ever  may  be  our  melancholy  forebodings.  That  such 
is  the  fact,  in  a  legal  point  of  view,  is  shown  by  a  case 
now  or  lately  pending  in  the  Scotch  Courts,  in  which 
the  right  of  succession  to  a  considerable  property  is  not 
admitted,  on  account  of  the  absence  of  all  but  conjec 
tural  testimony.  In  this  aspect  of  the  question  I  have 
no  personal  interest,  but  it  is  one  that  may  not  be 
deemed  unworthy  of  your  Lordship's  attention,  com 
bined  as  it  must  be  with  the  fact  that  our  most  ex 
perienced  Arctic  officers  are  willing  to  stake  their 
reputation  upon  the  feasibility  of  reaching  the  spot 
where  so  many  secrets  lie  buried,  if  only  they  are  sup 
plied  with  the  adequate  means. 

It  would  be  a  waste  of  words  to  attempt  to  refute 
again  the  main  objections  that  have  been  urged  against 
a  renewed  search,  as  involving  extraordinary  danger 
and  risking  life.  The  safe  return  of  our  officers  and 
men  cannot  be  denied,  neither  will  it  be  disputed  that 
each  succeeding  year  diminishes  the  risk  of  casualty ; 
and  indeed,  I  feel  it  would  be  especially  superfluous 
and  unseasonable  to  argue  against  this  particular  ob 
jection,  or  against  the  financial  one  which  generally 
accompanies  it,  at  a  moment  when  new  expeditions 
for  the  glorious  interests  of  science,  and  which  every 
true  lover  of  science  and  of  his  country  must  rejoice  in, 
are  contemplated  for  the  interior  of  Africa  and  otheJ 


No.  I.  APPENDIX.  325 

parts  which  are  far  less  favorable  to  human  life  than 
the  icy  regions  of  the  north. 

But  with  respect  to  expenditure,  I  may  perhaps  be 
allowed,  as  I  have  alluded  to  that  topic,  again  to  call 
to  your  Lordship's  attention  that  the  'Resolute'  is 
ready  equipped  for  Arctic  service  by  the  munificence 
of  another  nation,  and  to  add  that  other  Arctic  ships, 
equally  well  fitted  for  the  purpose,  are  lying  useless 
in  Her  Majesty's  dockyards,  along  with  accumulated 
Arctic  stores  brought  back  by  the  late  expeditions,  and 
therefore  long  since  included  in  the  navy  estimates -r 
and  which,  besides,  are  available  only  for  Arctic  ser 
vice,  and,  if  sold,  would  be  bought  at  only  nominal 
prices.  In  addition  to  the  above  sources  of  supply  are 
those  already  existing  on  the  Arctic  shores,  which  are 
now  studded  with  depots  of  provisions  and  fuel,  left 
from  the  last  and  former  expeditions,  and  fit  as  ever 
for  use,  because  of  the  conservative  properties  of  the 
climate. 

But  even  were  the  expenditure  greater  than  can  thus 
reasonably  be  expected,  I  submit  to  your  Lordship  that 
this  is  a  case  of  no  ordinary  exigency.  These  135  men 
of  the  'Erebus'  and  'Terror'  (or  perhaps  I  should 
rather  say  the  greater  part  of  them,  since  we  do  not 
yet  know  that  there  are  no  survivors)  have  laid  down 
their  lives,  after  sufferings  doubtless  of  unexampled 
severity,  in  the  service  of  their  country,  as  truly  as  if 
they  had  perished  by  the  rifle,  the  cannon-ball,  or  the 
bayonet.  Nay  more, —  by  attaining  the  northern  and 
already-surveyed  coast  of  America,  it  is  clear  that  they 
solved  the  problem  which  was  the  object  of  their  la 
bors,  or,  in  the  beautiful  words  of  Sir  John  Richardson, 
that  "they  forged  the  last  link  of  the  North- West  pas 
sage  with  their  lives." 
28 


326  APPENDIX.  No.  L 

Surely,  then,  I  may  plead  for  such  men,  that  a  care 
ful  search  be  made  for  any  possible  survivor,  that  the 
bones  of  the  dead  be  sought  for  and  gathered  together, 
that  their  buried  records  be  unearthed,  or  recovered 
from  the  hands  of  the  Esquimaux,  and  above  all,  that 
their  last  written  words,  so  precious  to  their  bereaved 
families  and  friends,  be  saved  from  destruction.  A 
mission  so  sacred  is  worthy  of  a  government  which  has 
grudged  and  spared  nothing  for  its  heroic  soldiers  and 
sailors  in  other  fields  of  warfare,  and  will  surely  be 
approved  by  our  gracious  Queen,  who  overlooks  none 
of  Her  loyal  subjects  suffering  and  dying  for  their 
country's  honor. 

This  final  and  exhausting  search  is  all  I  seek  in  be 
half  of  the  first  and  only  martyrs  to  Arctic  discovery  in 
modern  times,  and  it  is  all  I  ever  intend  to  ask. 

But  if,  notwithstanding  all  I  have  presumed  to  urge, 
Her  Majesty's  Government  decline  to  complete  the 
work  they  have  carried  on  up  to  this  critical  moment, 
but  leave  it  to  private  hands  to  finish,  1  must  then 
respectfully  request  that  measure  of  assistance  in  be 
half  of  my  own  expedition  which  I  have  been  led  to 
expect  on  the  authority  of  Lord  Stanley,  as  communi 
cated  to  me  by  Lord  Wrottesley,  and  on  that  of  the 
First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty,  as  communicated  to 
Colonel  Phipps  in  a  letter  in  my  possession. 

It  is  with  no  desire  to  avert  from  myself  the  sacrifice 
of  my  own  funds,  which  I  devote  without  reserve  to  the 
object  in  view,  that  I  plead  for  a  liberal  interpretation 
of  those  communications,  but  I  owe  it  to  the  consci 
entious  and  high-minded  Arctic  officers  who  have  gen 
erously  offered  rne  their  services,  that  my  expedition 
should  be  made  as  efficient  as  possible,  however  re- 


No.  I  APPENDIX.  327 

stricted  it  may  be  in  extent.  The  Admiralty,  I  feel 
sure,  will  not  deny  me  what  may  be  necessary  for  this 
purpose,  since,  if  I  do  all  I  can  with  my  own  means, 
any  deficiencies  and  shortcomings  of  a  private  expedi 
tion  cannot  I  think  be  justly  laid  to  my  charge. 

In  conclusion,  I  would  earnestly  entreat  of  Her  Maj 
esty's  Government,  while  this  subject  is  still  under 
deliberation,  that  they  would  be  pleased  to  obtain  the 
opinions  of  those  persons  who,  in  consequence  of  their 
practical  knowledge  and  vast  experience,  may  be  con 
sidered  best  qualified  to  express  them  in  the  present 
emergency.  And  as  it  must  be  in  the  ranks  of  those 
officers  who  would  naturally  be  selected  for  command 
of  any  final  expedition  that  these  qualifications  will 
most  assuredly  be  found,  I  trust  I  may  be  pardoned 
for  directing  your  Lordship's  attention  to  the  names 
(which  I  put  down  in  the  order  of  their  seniority)  of 
Captains  Collinson,  Richards,  McClintock,  Maguire, 
and  Osborn.  All  these  officers  have  passed  winter 
after  winter  in  Arctic  service,  have  carried  out  those 
skilful  sledge  operations  which  have  added  so  much  to 
our  knowledge  of  Arctic  Geography,  and  have  ever, 
in  the  exer'cise  of  combined  courage  and  discretion, 
avoided  disaster,  and  brought  home  their  crews  in 
health  and  safety. 

I  commit  the  prayer  of  this  letter,  for  the  length  of 
which  I  beg  much  to  apologize,  to  your  Lordship's 
patient  and  kind  consideration,  feeling  assured  that, 
however  the  burden  of  it  may  pall  upon  the  ear  of 
some,  who  apparently  judge  of  it  neither  by  the  heart 
nor  by  the  head,  you  will  not  on  that,  or  on  any  light 
ground,  hastily  dismiss  it.  Rather  may  you  be  im 
pelled  to  feel  that  the  shortest  and  surest  way  to  set 


APPENDIX.  No.  L 

the  importunate  question  at  rest,  is  to  submit  it  to 
that  final  investigation  which  will  satisfy  the  yearn- 
ings  of  surviving  relatives  and  friends,  and,  what  is 
justly  of  higher  import  to  your  Lordship,  the  credit 
and  honor  of  the  country. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  etc., 

JANE  FRANKLIN. 
The  Eight  Hon.  Viscount  Palmerston,  E.G. 


No.  II.  APPENDIX.  329 


No.  II. 

MEMORIAL  TO  THE  RIGHT  HON.  VISCOUNT 
PALMERSTON,  M.P.,  G.C.B. 

London,  June  5th,  185B. 

IMPRESSED  with  the  belief  that  Her  Majesty's  missing 
ships,  the  *  Erebus '  and  '  Terror,'  or  their  remains,  are 
still  frozen  up  at  no  great  distance  from  the  spot 
whence  certain  relics  of  Sir  John  Franklin  and  his 
crews  were  obtained  by  Dr.  Rae, —  we  whose  names 
are  undersigned,  whether  men  of  science  and  others 
who  have  taken  a  deep  interest  in  Arctic  discovery, 
or  explorers  who  have  been  employed  in  the  search 
for  our  lost  countrymen,  beg  earnestly  to  impress 
upon  your  Lordship  the  desirableness  of  sending  out 
an  Expedition  to  satisfy  the  honor  of  our  country, 
and  clear  up  a  mystery  which  has  excited  the  sym 
pathy  of  the  civilized  world. 

This  request  is  supported  by  many  persons  well 
versed  in  Arctic  surveys,  who,  seeing  that  the  proposed 
Expedition  is  to  be  directed  to  one  limited  area  only, 
are  of  opinion  that  the  object  is  attainable,  and  with 
little  risk. 

"We  can  scarcely  believe  that  the  British  Govern 
ment,  which  to  its  great  credit  has  made  so  many 
efforts  in  various  directions  to  discover  even  the  route 
pursued  by  Franklin,  should  cease  to  prosecute  re 
search,  now  that  the  locality  has  been  clearly  indicated 
where  the  vessels  or  their  remains  must  lie,  —  includ 
ing,  as  we  hope,  records  which  will  throw  fresh  light 
on  Arctic  geography,  and  dispel  the  obscurity  in 
which  the  voyage  and  fate  of  our  countrymen  are 

still  involved. 

28* 


330  APPENDIX.  No.  II. 

Although  most  persons  have  arrived  at  the  con 
clusion  that  there  can  now  be  no  survivors  of  Frank 
lin's  Expedition,  yet  there  are  eminent  men  in  our 
own  country  and  in  America  who  hold  a  contrary 
opinion.  Dr.  Kane,  of  the  United  States,  for  example, 
who  has  distinguished  himself  by  pushing  farther  to 
the  north  in  search  of  Franklin  than  any  other  indi 
vidual,  and  to  whom  the  Royal  Geographical  Society 
has  recently  awarded  its  Founders'  Gold  Medal,  thus 
speaks  (in  a  letter  to  the  benevolent  Mr.  Grinnell) :  — 
"  I  am  really  in  doubt  as  to  the  preservation  of  human 
life.  I  well  know  how  glad  I  would  have  been,  had 
my  duty  to  others  permitted  me,  to  have  taken  refuge 
among  the  Esquimaux  of  Smith  Strait  and  Etah  Bay. 
Strange  as  it  may  seem  to  you,  we  regarded  the  coarse 
life  of  these  people  with  eyes  of  envy,  and  did  not 
doubt  but  that  we  could  have  lived  in  comfort  upon 
their  resources.  It  required  all  my  powers,  moral  and 
physical,  to  prevent  my  men  from  deserting  to  the 
Walrus  Settlements,  and  it  was  my  final  intention 
to  have  taken  to  Esquimaux  life  had  Providence  not 
carried  us  through  in  our  hazardous  escape." 

But  passing  from  speculation,  and  confining  our 
selves  alone  to  the  question  of  finding  the  missing 
ships  or  their  records,  we  would  observe  that  no  land 
Expedition  down  the  Back  River,  like  that  which,  with 
great  difficulty,  recently  reached  Montreal  Island,  can 
satisfactorily  accomplish  the  end  we  have  in  view. 
The  frail  birch-bark  canoes  in  which  Mr.  Anderson 
conducted  his  search  with  so  much  ability,  the  dangers 
of  the  river,  the  sterile  nature  of  the  tract  near  its 
embouchure,  and  the  necessary  failure  of  provisions, 
prevented  the  commencement,  even,  of  such  a  search 
as  can  alone  be  satisfactorily  and  thoroughly  accom- 


No.  II.  APPENDIX.  331 

plished  by  the  crew  of  a  man-of-war,  —  to  say  nothing 
of  the  moral  influence  of  a  strong  armed  party  remain 
ing  in  the  vicinity  of  the  spot  until  the  confidence  of 
the  natives  be  obtained. 

Many  Arctic  explorers,  independent  of  those  whose 
names  are  appended,  and  who  are  absent  on  service, 
have  expressed  their  belief  that  there  are  several  routes 
by  which  a  screw-vessel  could  so  closely  approach  the 
area  in  question  as  to  clear  up  all  doubt. 

In  respect  to  one  of  these  courses,  or  that  by  Behring 
Strait,  along  the  coast  of  North  America,  we  know 
that  a  single  sailing  vessel  passed  to  Cambridge  Bay, 
within  150  miles  of  the  mouth  of  the  Back  River,  and 
returned  home  unscathed, —  its  commander  having  ex 
pressed  his  conviction  that  the  passage  in  question  is 
so  constantly  open  that  ships  can  navigate  it  without 
difficulty  in  one  season.  Other  routes,  whether  by 
Regent  Inlet,  Peel  Sound,  or  across  from  Repulse  Bay, 
are  preferred  by  officers  whose  experience  in  Arctic 
matters  entitles  them  to  every  consideration  ;  whilst 
in  reference  to  two  of  these  routes  it  is  right  to  state 
that  vast  quantities  of  provisions  have  been  left  in  their 
vicinity. 

Without  venturing  to  suggest  which  of  these  plans 
should  be  adopted,  we  earnestly  beg  your  Lordship  to 
sanction  without  delay  such  an  expedition  as,  in  the 
judgment  of  a  Committee  of  Arctic  Voyagers  and 
Geographers,  may  be  considered  best  adapted  to  secure 
the  object. 

We  would  ask  your  Lordship  to  reflect  upon  the 
great  difference  between  a  clearly-defined  voyage  to  a 
narrow  and  circumscribed  area,  within  which  the  miss 
ing  vessels  or  their  remains  must  lie,  and  those  formerly 
necessarily  tentative  explorations  in  various  directions, 


332  APPENDIX.  No.  II 

the  frequent  allusions  to  the  difficulty  of  w^ich,  in 
regions  far  to  the  north  of  the  voyage  now  contem 
plated,  have  led  persons  unacquainted  with  geography 
to  suppose  that  such  a  modified  and  limited  attempt 
as  that  which  we  propose  involves  farther  risk  and 
may  call  for  future  researches.  The  very  nature  of  the 
former  expeditions  exposed  them,  it  is  true,  to  risk, 
since  regions  had  to  be  traversed  which  were  totally 
unknown  ;  while  the  search  we  ask  for  is  to  be  directed 
to  a  circumscribed  area,  the  confines  of  which  have 
already  been  reached  without  difficulty  by  one  of  Her 
Majesty's  vessels. 

Now,  inasmuch  as  France,  after  repeated  fruitless 
efforts  to  ascertain  the  fate  of  La  Perouse,  no  sooner 
heard  of  the  discovery  of  some  relics  of  that  eminent 
navigator,  than  she  sent  out  a  Searching  Expedition 
to  collect  every  fragment  pertaining  to  his  vessels,  so 
we  trust  that  those  Arctic  researches  which  have  re 
flected  much  honor  upon  our  country  may  not  be 
abandoned  at  the  very  moment  when  an  explanation 
of  the  wanderings  and  fate  of  our  lost  navigators  seems 
to  be  within  our  grasp. 

In  conclusion,  we  further  earnestly  pray  that  it  may 
not  be  left  to  the  efforts  of  individuals  of  another  and 
kindred  nation,  already  so  distinguished  in  this  cause, 
nor  yet  to  the  noble-minded  widow  of  our  lamented 
friend,  to  make  an  endeavor  which  can  be  so  much 
more  effectively  carried  out  by  the  British  Govern 
ment. 

We  have  the  honor  to  be,  &c., 

F.  BEAUFORT,  L.  HORNER, 

II.  I.  MURCIIISON,  W.  II.  FlTTON. 

F.  W.  BEECHEY,  LYON  PLAYFAIR, 

WROTTESLEY,  T.  THORP, 


No.  II.  APPENDIX.  333 

E.  SABINE,  C.  WHEATSTONE, 

EGERTON  ELLESMERE,  W.  J.  HOOKER, 

W.  WHEWELL,  J.  D.  HOOKER, 

R.  COLLINSON,  J.  ARROWSMITH, 

W.  H.  SYKES,  P.  LA  TROBE, 

C.  DAUBENY,  W.  A.  B.  HAMILTON, 

J.  FERGUS,  R.  STEPHENSON, 

P.  E.  DE  STZRELECKI,  J.  E.  PORTLOCK, 

W.  H.  SMYTH,  C.  PIAZZI  SMYTH, 

A.  MAJENDIE,  C.  W.  PASLEY, 

R.  FITZROY,  G.  RENNIE, 
E.  GARDINER  FISHBOURNE,     J.  P.  GASSIOT, 

R.  BROWN,  G.  B.  AIRY, 

G.  MACARTNEY,  J.  F.  BURGOYNE. 

The  following  officers  of  the  Royal  Navy,  who  have 
been  employed  in  the  search -after  Franklin,  and  who 
are  now  absent  from  London,  have  previously  expressed 
themselves  to  be  favorable  to  the  final  expedition  above 

recommended: — 

t 

Captains    Sir    JAMES    C.  Captains  MAGUIRE, 

Ross,  and  Sir  EDWARD  M'CLINTOCK,  and 

BELCHER  ;  RICHARDS ; 

Commodore  KELLETT  ;  Commanders  ALDRICH, 

Captains  AUSTIN,  MECHAM, 

BIRD,  TROLLOPE,  and 

OMMANNEY,  CRESSWELL  ; 

Sir  ROBERT  M'CLURE,  Lieutenants  HAMILTON   and 

SHERARD  OSBORN,  PIM. 
INQLEFIELD, 


334  APPENDIX.  No.  Ill 


No.  III. 

LIST  OF  RELICS   OF   THE    FRANKLIN  EXPEDITION, 

Brought  to  England  in  the  '  Fox,'  by  Captain  M'CLiNTOCK. 

RELICS  brought  from  the  boat  found  in  lat.  69°  08'  43" 
N.,  long.  99°  24'  42"  W.,  upon  the  West  Coast  of 
King  William  Island,  May  30,  1859:—. 

Two  double-barrelled  guns,  one  barrel  in  each  is  loaded.  Found 
standing  up  against  the  side  in  the  after  part  of  the  boat. 

A  small  Prayer  Book  ;  cover  of  a  sniclll  book  of '  Family  Prayers ; ' 
1  Christian  Melodies,'  an  inscription  within  the  cover  to  "  G.  G." 
(Graham  Gore  V)  ;  '  Vicar  of  Wakefield ; '  a  small  Bible,  interlined 
in  many  places,  and  with  numerous  references  written  in  the  margin ; 
a  New  Testament  in  the  French  language. 

Two  table  knives  with  white  handles  —  one  is  marked  "W.  R,. ;" 
a  gimlet ;  an  awl ;  two  iron  stanchions,  9  inches  long,  for  supporting 
a  weather  cloth,  which  was  round  the  boat. 

2G  pieces  of  silver  plate  —  11  spoons,  1 1  forks,  and  4  teaspoons ; 
3  pieces  of  thin  elmboard  (tingles)  for  repairing  the  boat,  and  meas 
uring  11  inches  by  6  inches,  and  3-10ths  inch  thick. 

Piece  of  canvas :  —  Bristles  for  shoemaker's  use,  bullets,  short  clay 
pipe,  roll  of  waxed  twine,  a  wooden  button,  small  piece  of  a  port-fire, 
two  charges  of  shot  tied  up  in  the  finger  of  a  kid  glove,  fragment  of 
a  seaman's  blue  serge  frock.  Covers  of  a  small  Testament  and  Prayer 
Book,  part  of  a  grass  cigar-case,  fragment  of  a  silk  handkerchief, 
thread-case,  piece  of  scented  soap,  three  shot  charges  in  kid  glove 
fingers,  a  belted  bullet,  a  piece  of  silk  pocket  handkerchief.  Two 
pairs  of  goggles,  made  of  stout  leather  and  wire  gauze,  instead  of 
glass;  a  sailmaker's  palm,  two  small  brass  pocket  compasses,  a  snood- 
ing  line  rolled  up  on  a  piece  of  leather,  a  needle  and  thread  case, 
a  bayonet  scabbard  altered  into  a  sheath  for  a  knife,  tin  water  bottle 
for  the  pocket,  two  shot  pouches  (full  of  shot). 

Three  spring  hooks  of  sword  belts,  a  gold  lace  band,  a  piece  of 
thin  gold  twist  or  cord,  a  pair  of  leather  goggles  with  crape  instead 
of  glass ;  a  small  green  crape  veil. 

Two  small  packets  of  blank  cartridge  in  green  paper,  part  of  a 
cherry-stick  pipe  stem,  piece  of  a  port-fire,  a  few  copper  nails,  a 


[UNIVERSITY; 

IX.     C  <  3.15 


No.  III.  APPEND 


. 

leather  bootlace,  a  seaman's  clasp-knife,  two  small  glast  stoppered 

bottles  (full),  three  glasses  of  spectacles,  part  of  a  broken  pair  of 
silver  spectacles,  German  silver  pencil-case,  a  pair  of  silver  (?) 
forceps,  such  as  a  naturalist  might  use  for  holding  or  seizing  small 
insects,  etc.;  a  small  pair  of  scissors  rolled  up  in  blank  paper,  and 
to  which  adheres  a  printed  government  paper,  such  as  an  officer's 
warrant  or  appointment  ;  a  spring  hook  of  a  sword  belt,  a  brass 
charger  for  holding  two  charges  of  shot. 

A  small  bead  purse,  piece  of  red  sealing-wax,  stopper  of  a  pocket 
flask,  German  silver  top  and  ring,  brass  matchbox,  one  of  the  glasses 
of  a  telescope,  a  small  tin  cylinder,  probably  made  to  hold  lucifer 
matches  ;  a  linen  bag  of  percussion  caps  of  three  sizes,  a  very  large 
and  old-fashioned  kind,  stamped  "  Smith's  patent  ;  "  a  cap  with  a 
flange  similar  to  the  present  musket  caps  used  by  Government,  but 
smaller  ;  and  ordinary  sporting  caps  of  the  smallest  size. 

Five  watches. 

A  pair  of  blue  glass  spectacles,  or  goggles,  with  steel  frame,  and 
wire  gauze  encircling  the  glasses,  in  a  tin  case. 

A  pemmican  tin,  painted  lead  color,  and  marked  "  E."  (Erebus) 
in  black.  From  its  size  it  must  have  contained  20lb.  or  22lb. 

Two  yellow  glass  beads,  a  glass  seal  with  symbol  of  Freemasonry. 

A  4-inch  block,  strapped,  with  copper  hook  and  thimble,  probably 
for  the  boat's  sheet. 

Relics  seen  in  lat.  69°  09'  N.,  long.  99°  24'  W.,  not 
brought  away,  30th  of  May,  1859:  — 

A  large  boat,  measuring  28  ft.  in  extreme  length,  7  ft.  3  in.  in 
breadth,  2  ft.  4  in.  in  depth.  The  markings  on  her  stem  were  — 
"  XXL  W.  Con.  N61.,  APr.  184."  It  appears  that  the  fore  part  of 
the  stem  has  been  cut  away,  probably  to  reduce  weight,  and  part 
of  the  letters  and  figures  removed.  An  oak  sledge  under  the  boat, 
23  ft.  4  in.  long,  and  2  ft.  wide  ;  6  paddles,  about  60  fathoms  of  deep- 
sea  lead  line,  ammunition,  4  cakes  of  navy  chocolate,  shoemaker's 
box  with  implements  complete,  small  quantities  of  tobacco,  a  small 
pair  of  very  stout  shooting  boots,  a  pair  of  very  heavy  iron-shod  knee 
boots,  carpet  boots,  sea  boots  and  shoes  —  in  all  seven  or  eight  pairs  i 
two  rolls  of  sheet  lead,  elm  tingles  for  repairing  the  boat,  nails  of 
various  sizes  for  boat,  and  sledge  irons,  three  small  axes,  a  broken 
saw,  leather  cover  of  a  sextant  case,  a  chain-cable  punch,  silk  hand- 


336  APPENDIX.  No.  IIL 

kerchiefs  (black,  white,  and  colored),  towels,  sponge,  tooth-brash, 
hair  comb,  a  mackintosh,  gun  cover  (marked  in  paint  "A.  12"), 
twine,  files,  knives ;  a  small  worsted-work  slipper,  lined  with  calf 
skin,  bound  with  red  riband ;  a  great  quantity  of  clothing,  and  a 
wolf-skin  robe  ;  part  of  a  boat's  sail  of  No.  8  canvas,  whale-line  rope 
with  yellow  mark,  and  white  line  with  red  mark ;  24  iron  stanchions, 
9  1-2  inches  high,  for  supporting  a  weather  cloth  round  the  boat;  a 
stanchion  for  supporting  a  ridgo  pole  at  a  height  of  3  ft.  9  in.  above 
the  gunwale. 

Relics  found  about  Ross  Cairn,  on  Point  Victory,  May 

and  June,  1859,  brought  away  :  — 

A  6-inch  dip  circle  by  Robinson,  marked  I  22.  A  case  of  medi 
cines,  consisting  of  25  small  bottles,  canister  of  pills,  ointment,  plas 
ter,  oiled  silk,  etc.  A  2-foot  rule,  two  joints  of  the  cleaning  rod  of  a 
gun,  and  two  small  copper  spindles,  probably  for  dog-vanes  of  boats. 
The  circular  brass  plate  broken  out  of  a  wooden  gun-case,  and  en 
graved  "  C.  H.  Osmer,  R.N."  The  field  glass  and  German  silver 
top  of  a  2-foot  telescope,  a  coffee  canister,  a  piece  of  a  brass  curtain 
rod.  The  record  tin  and  the  record,  dated  25th  of  April,  1848.  A 
6-inch  double  frame  sextant,  on  which  the  owner's  name  is  engraved, 
"  Frederick  Hornby,  R.N." 

Found  in  a   small  cairn  on  the  south  side  of  Back 
Bay:  — 

A  tin  record  case  and  record. 

Seen  about  Ross  Cairn,  Point  Victory,  not   brought 
away :  — 

Four  sets  of  boat's  cooking  apparatus  complete,  iron  hoops,  4  feet 
of  a  copper  lightning  conductor,  hollow  brass  curtain-rod  three  quar 
ters  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  3  pickaxes,  1  shovel,  old  canvas,  a  pile  of 
warm  clothing  and  blankets  4  feet  high,  2  tin  canteens  stamped  "89 
Co.,  Wm.  Hedges,"  "  88  Co.,  Win.  Heather,"  and  a  third  one  riot 
marked.  A  small  pannikin,  made  on  board  out  of  a  2lb.  preserved- 
meat  tin,  and  marked  "  W.  Mark ; "  a  small  deal  box  for  gun 
wadding,  the  heavy  iron  work  of  a  large  boat,  part  of  a  canvas  tent, 
part  of  an  oar  sawed  longitudinally  and  a  blanket  nailed  to  its  flat 
side,  three  boat-hook  staves,  strips  of  copper,  a  9-inch  single  block 


No.  III.  APPENDIX.  337 

strapped,  a  piece  of  rope  and  spunyarn.  Among  the  clothing  was 
found  a  stocking  marked  "  W,"  green,  and  a  fragment  of  one  marked 
"  W.  S." 

Relics  obtained    at   the    Northern    Cairn,    near   Cape 
Felix,  May,  1859:- 

Fragments  of  a  boat's  ensign,  metal  lid  of  a  powder-case,  two  eye 
pieces  of  sextant  tubes,  brass  button  ;  worsted  glove,  colors  red,  white 
arid  blue  ;  bung-stave  of  a  marine's  water  keg  or  bottle,  brass  orna 
ments  to  a  marine's  shako ;  brass  screw  for  screwing  down  lid,  also  a 
copper  hinge  of  the  lid  of  powder-case  ;  a  few  patent  wire  cartridges 
containing  large  shot ;  part  of  a  pair  of  steel  spectacles,  glass  being 
replaced  by  wood,  having  a  narrow  slit  in  it ;  two  small  rib  bones, 
probably  out  of  salt  pork ;  six  or  eight  packets  of  needles ;  small 
flannel  cartridge  containing  an  ounce  of  damaged  powder;  a  small, 
roughly  made  copper  apparatus  for  cooking;  some  brimstone  matches. 
Piece  of  white  paper  folded  up  found  in  the  North  Cairn,  two  pike- 
heads,  narrow  strip  of  white  paper,  found  under  one  of  the  tent 
places;  their  tent  places  were  within  a  few  yards  of  the  cairn. 

Beside  a  small  cairn,  about  three  miles  north  of  Point  Victory,  was 
a  pickaxe,  with  broken  handle ;  brought  away  an  empty  tea  or  coffee 
canister. 

Articles  noticed  about  the  North  Cairn,  not  brought 
away :  — 

Fragments  of  two  broken  bottles,  several  pieces  of  broken  basins 
or  cups,  blue  and  white  delfvvare,  hoops  of  marine's  water  keg,  small 
iron  hoops,  fragments  of  white  line,  spun  yarn,  canvas,  and  twine ; 
three  small  canvas  tents,  under  which  lay  a  bearskin  and  fragments 
of  blankets ;  two  blanket  frocks,  several  old  mitts,  stockings,  gloves, 
pilot  cloth  and  box  cloth  jackets  and  trousers,  large  shot,  piece  of 
tobacco  and  broken  pipe,  metal  part  of  powder-case,  top  of  tin  can 
ister,  marked  "  cheese,"  preserved-potato  tin,  feathers  of  ptarmigan, 
and  salt-meat  bones. 

Seen  near  Cape  Maria  Louisa :  — 

Pa~t  of  a  drift  tree,  white  spruce  fir,  18  feet  long,  10  inches  in 
diameter ;  it  appeared  to  have  but  recently  ( i.e.  since  thrown  on 
the  coast)  been  sawed  longitudinally  down  the  centre,  and  one-half 
of  it  removed. 

29  w 


338  APPENDIX.  No.  Ill 

Relics  obtained  from  the  Boothian  Esquimaux,  neai 
the  Magnetic  Pole,  in  March  and  April,  1859:  — 

Seven  knives  made  by  the  natives  out  of  materials  obtained  from 
the  last  expedition,  one  knife  without  a  handle,  one  spear-head  and 
staff  (the  latter  has  broken  off),  two  files;  a  large  spoon  or  scoop, 
the  handle  of  pine  or  bone,  the  bowl  of  musk-ox  horn ;  six  silver 
spoons  and  forks,  the  property  of  Sir  John  Franklin,  Lieutenants 
II.  D.  Ve scorn te  and  Fairholme,  A.  M' Donald,  Assistant-Surgeon,  and 
Lieutenant  E.  Couch  (supposed  from  the  initial  letter  T  and  crest  a 
lion's  head)  ;  a  small  portion  of  a  gold  watch-chain,  a  broken  piece  of 
ornamental  work  apparently  silver  gilt,  a  few  small  naval  and  other 
metal  buttons,  a  silver  medal  obtained  by  Mr.  M-Donald  as  a  prize 
for  superior  attainments  at  a  medical  examination  in  Edinburgh 
April,  1838 :  some  bows  and  arrows,  in  which  wood,  iron,  or  copper 
has  been  used  in  the  construction  —  of  no  other  interest. 

Remarks  upon  these  Articles. 

The  spear-staff  measures  6  feet  3  inches  in  length,  and  appears  to 
,ave  been  part  of  a  light  boat's  gunwale :  it  measured  (before  being 
partially  rounded  to  adapt  it  to  its  present  use)  about  11-2  by  1  3-8 
inches,  is  made  of  English  oak,  and  upon  the  side  has  been  painted 
white  over  green.  The  spear-head  is  of  steel,  riveted  to  two  pieces 
of  hoop,  with  bone  between,  and  lashed  on  to  the  staff.  The 
rivets  are  of  copper  nails.  The  native  who  sold  it  said  he  himself 
got  it  from  the  boat  in  the  Fish  River.  Another  spear  of  the 
same  kind  was  seen.  The  knives  are  made  either  of  iron  or  steel, 
riveted  to  two  strips  of  hoop,  between  which  the  handle  of  wood 
is  inserted,  and  rivets  passed  through,  securing  them  together. 

The  rivets  are  almost  all  made  out  of  copper  nails,  such  as  would 
be  found  in  a  copper-fastened  boat,  but  those  which  have  .been  exam 
ined  do  not  bear  the  Government  mark.  It  is  probable  that  most 
of  the  boats  of  the  'Erebus'  and  'Terror'  were  built  by  contract, 
and  therefore  would  not  have  the  broad  arrow  stamped  upon  their 
iron  and  copper  work.  One  small  knife  appears  to  have  been  a 
surgical  instrument.  A  large  knife  obtained  in  April  bears  some? 
marking,  such  as  a  sword  or  a  cutlass  might  have.  The  man  who 
sold  it  said  he  bought  it  from  another,  who  picked  it  up  on  the  land 
where  the  ship  was  driven  ashore  by  the  ice,  and  Avhere  the  white 
people  had  thrown  it  away ;  it  was  then  about  a«  long  as  his  arm 


No.  III.  APPENDIX.  339 

This  was  the  first  information  he  received  of  one  of  flic  ships  having 
drifted  on  shore.  One  knife  and  one  file  are  stamped  with  the 
broad  arrow.  The  handles  are  variously  composed  of  oak,  ash,  pine, 
mahogany,  elm,  and  bone.  The  spoons  and  forks  were  readily  sold 
for  a  few  needles  each,  also  the  buttons,  which  they  wore  as  orna 
ments  on  their  dresses.  Bows  and  arrows  were  readily  exchanged 
for  knives.  Previously  to  the  stranding  on  the  neighboring  shore  of 
the  last  expedition  these  people  must  have  been  almost  destitute  of 
wood  or  iron.  Some  of  them  had  even  got  only  bone  knives  and 
spear-points.  Some  of  their  sledges  were  seen,  consisting  of  two 
rolls  of  seal-skin,  flattened  and  frozen,  to  serve  as  runners,  and  con 
nected  together  by  cross  bars  of  bones.  Many  more  knives,  bows 
and  buttons,  similar  to  those  brought  away,  might  have  been  ob 
tained,  but  no  personal  or  important  relics. 

Seen  in  a  Snow  Hut  in  lat.  70J0  deg.  N.,  20th  of  April, 
1859,  not  brought  away  :  — 

Two  wooden  shovels,  one  of  them  made  of  mahogany  board,  some 
spear-handles  and  a  bow  of  English  wood,  a  deal  case  which  might 
have  served  for  a  telescope  or  barometer.  Its  external  dimensions 
were :  —  length,  3  ft.  1  in. ;  depth,  3  1-2  in. ;  width,  9  in. ;  two  brass 
hinges  remained  attached  to  it. 

Relics  obtained  from  the  Esquimaux  near  Cape  Nor 
ton,  upon  the  East  Coast  of  King  William  Island, 
in  May,  1859:- 

Two  tablespoons ;  upon  one  is  scratched  "  W.  W.,"  on  the  other 
"  W.  G. ; "  these  bear  the  Franklin  crest ;  two  table  forks,  one  bear 
ing  the  Franklin  crest;  the  other  is  also  crested,  probably  Captain 
Crozier's ;  silversmith's  name  is  "  I.  West ; "  two  teaspoons,  one  en 
graved  "  A.  M.  D."  (A.  M' Donald),  the  other  bears  the  Fairholmo 
crest  and  motto;  handle  of  a  dessert  knife,  into  which  had  been 
inserted  a  razor  (since  broken  off)  by  Milliken,  Strand  ;  buttons, 
wood  and  iron,  were  here  in  abundance,  but  as  enough  of  these  had 
already  been  obtained  no  more  were  purchased. 

Taken  out  of  some  deserted  snow-huts  near  here,  some  scraps  of 
different  kinds  of  wood,  such  as  could  not  be  obtained  from  a  boat  — 
teak  or  African  oak. 

Found  lying  about  the  skeleton,  9  miles  eastward  of  Cape  Her 


340  APPENDIX.  No.  IIT. 

schel,  May,  1859  :  —  Tlic  tic  of  black  silk  neckerchief;  fragments  of 
a  double-breasted  blue  cloth  waistcoat,  with  covered  silk  buttons,  and 
edged  with  braid  ;  a  scrap  of  a  colored  cotton  shirt,  silk  covered 
buttons  of  blue  cloth  great-coat,  a  small  clothes-brush,  a  horn  pocket- 
comb,  a  leathern  pocket-book,  which  fell  to  pieces  when  thawed  and 
dried;  it  contained  9  or  10  letters,  a  few  leaves  apparently  blaak ; 
a  sixpence,  date  1831 ;  and  a  half-sovereign,  dated  1844. 

Articles  seen  among  the  natives  at  Cape  Norton,  not  purchased, — 
Bows  made  of  wood,  knives,  uniform  and  plain  buttons,  a  sledge 
made  of  two  long  pieces  of  hard  wood. 

From  beside  an  Esquimaux  stone-mark,  on  the  east  side  of 
Montreal  Island:  —  Part  of  a  preserved-meat  tin,  painted  red;  part 
of  the  rim  of  some  strong  copper  case  or  vessel ;  pieces  of  iron  hoop, 
two  pieces  of  ilat  iron,  an  iron  hook  bolt,  a  piece  of  sheet  copper. 

Articles  seen  about  a  snow-hut  near  Point  Booth,  not  purchased : 
— Eight  or  10  fir  poles,  varying  from  5  feet  to  10  feet  in  length,  the 
stoutest  being  2  1-2  inches  in  diameter.  Two  wooden  snow  shovels 
about  3  1-2  feet  long,  and  made  of  pieces  of  plank  painted  white  or 
pale  yellow ;  it  occurred  to  me  that  the  pieces  of  plank  might  have 
been  the  bottom  boards  of  a  boat.  There  was  abundance  of  wood 
fashioned  into  smaller  articles. 

Contents  of  Boat's  Medicine  Chest :  — 

One  bottle  labelled  as  zinzib.  R.  pulv.,  full;  ditto,  spirit,  rcct., 
empty;  ditto,  mur.  hydrarg.  seven-eighths  full;  ditto,  ol.  caryphyll., 
one-fifth  full ;  ditto,  ipec.  P.  co.,  full ;  ditto,  ol.  month,  pip.,  empty ; 
ditto,  liq.  ammon.  fort.,  three-quarters  full  ;  ditto,  ol.  olivac.,  full  ; 
ditto,  tinct.  opii.  camph.,  three-quarters  full ;  ditto,  vin.  sem.  colch., 
full;  ditto,  quarter  full;  ditto,  calomel, full  (broken);  ditto,  hydravrj. 
hit.  oxyd.,  full ;  ditto,  pulv.  gregor,  full  (broken)  ;  ditto,  magnes. 
carb.,  full;  ditto,  camphor,  full;  two  bottles  tine,  tolut.,  each  quarter 
full;  one  bottle  ipec.  R.  pulv.,  full;  ditto,  jalap  R.  pulv.,  full;  ditto, 
scammon.  pulv.,  full;  ditto,  quinac  bisulph.  empty;  ditto  (not  la 
belled),  tinct.  opii.,  three-quarters  full;  one  box  (apparently)  purga 
tive  pills,  full ;  ditto,  ointment,  shrunk ;  ditto,  emp.  adhesiv.,  full ; 
one  probang,  one  pen  wrapped  up  in  lint,  one  lead  pencil,  one 
pewter  syringe,  two  rfmall  tubes  (test)  wrapped  up  in  lint,  one 
farthing,  bandages,  oil  silk,  lint,  thread. 


No.  IV.  APPENDIX.  341 

\ 

No.  IV. 

GEOLOGICAL  ACCOUNT  OF-  THE  ARCTIC  ARCHIPELAGO, 

DRAWN  UP  PRINCIPALLY  FROM  THE  SPECIMENS  COLLECTED  BY 

CAPTAIN  F.  L.  M'CLINTOCK,  R.N., 
From  1849  to  1859. 

BY    THE    REV.    SAMUEL    HAUOHTON,   F.R.S., 

Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Professor  of  Geology  in  the  University  of  Dublin,  and 
President  of  the  Geological  Society  of  Dublin, 

THE  map  which  accompanies  this  geological  descrip 
tion  is  arranged  from  the  specimens  brought  home  by 
Captain  F.  L.  M'Clintock,  R.N.,  from  the  four  Arctic 
Expeditions  in  which  he  served  from  1848  to  1859. 
These  specimens  are  all  deposited  in  the  Museum  of 
the  Royal  Dublin  Society,  and  form  a  more  extensive 
and  better  collection  of  Arctic  rocks  and  fossils  than  is 
to  be  found  in  any  other  museum  in  Europe. 

It  will  be  most  convenient  to  describe  the  geology 
of  the  Arctic  Islands  by  the  formations  which  are  to 
be  found  there,  which  are  the  following :  — 

1.  The  Granitic  and  Granitoid  Rocks. 

2.  The  Upper  Silurian  Rocks. 

3.  The  Carboniferous  Rocks. 

4.  The  Lias  Rocks. 

5.  The  Superficial  Deposits. 

I  shall  describe  these  successive  formations  briefly, 
and  add  a  few  remarks  of  a  theoretical  character,  to 
indicate  the  important  inferences  which  may  be  drawn 
from  the  facts  respecting  them  made  known  to  us  by 
M'Clintock ?s  discoveries. 
29* 


342  APPENDIX.  No.  IV. 

k 

I. —  The  Granitic  and  Granitoid  Rocks. 

These  rocks  form  a  considerable  part  of  North 
Greenland,  on  the  east  side  of  Baffin's  Bay,  and  con 
stitute  the  rock  of  the  country  at  the  east  side  of  the 
island  of  North  Devon,  which  forms  a  portion  of  the 
coast-line  of  the  west  of  Baffin's  Bay,  and  the  north 
side  of  the  entrance  into  Lancaster  Sound. 

1.  Whale  Fish  Islands,  hit.  69°  N.,  are  composed  of 
a  very  fine-grained,  flaggy,  black  mica  schist,  composed 
of  black  mica  in  very  small  plates,  occasionally  putting 
on   a  hornblendic  lustre,  and  minute  grains  of  quartz 
interstratified  with  the  mica.     The  softer  varieties  are 
cut  by  the  natives  into  grissets  and  cooking  utensils  of 
various  shapes,  some  of  which  resemble  the  cambstones 
found  in  Ireland,  which  arc  made  from  a  kind  of  pot- 
stone,  abundant  in  parts  of  the  County  Donegal. 

2.  Upernavik,  lat.  72°  N.,  Greenland.— This  district 
is  famous   for   the    occurrence  of  large  quantities    of 
plumbago,  which  is  found  in  a  metamorphic  rock  of  the 
following  character.     Fine-grained,  amorphous,  grani 
toid  rock,  composed  of  minute  particles  of  grey  quartz  ; 
a   honey-colored  felspar  of  waxy  lustre,  of  unknown 
composition  ;  minute  particles  of  red  semitransparent 
garnet,  of  conchoidal  fracture;  and  small  particles,  with 
occasional  large  nests,  of  plumbago.     The  plumbago 
occurs  both  amorphous,  and  in  long  acicular  crystals. 
Sometimes  the  rock  becomes  of  coarser  texture   and 
more  crystalline,  and  the  yellow  color  of  the  felspar 
gives  place  to  a  greenish  tinge  ;  and  it  sometimes  also 
becomes  a  felspar  of  perfect  cleavage,  semitransparent, 
and  white.     The  dodecahedral  crystals  of  garnet  reach 
the  diameter  of  one  inch. 

The  general  character  of* the  rocks  near  Upernavik 


No  IV.  APPENDIX.  343 

is  different  from  that  of  the  rock  in  which  the  plum 
bago  is  found;  they  consist  of  a  fine-grained  black  mica 
schist,  with  very  little  felspar  or  quartz,  and  intersected 
by  thin  veins  of  elvan  composed  of  quartz  and  white 
felspar.  The  cooking  utensils  of  the  natives  are  made 
from  this  fine  schist,  in  preference  to  any  other  descrip 
tion  of  rock. 

3.  Woman's  Islands.  —  These  islands,  off  the  west 
coast  of  Greenland,  are  composed  of  a  garnetiferous 
mica  slate,  formed  of  black  mica  in  layers,  with  alter 
nating  plates  composed  of  white  felspar  and  quartz,  and 
filled  with  fine  garnets,  rose-colored,  vitreous  in  frac 
ture,  and  transparent. 

4.  Cape  York,  lat.  76°  N.,  Greenland.  —  This  cape  is 
composed    of    a    fine-grained    granite,   consisting   of 
quartz,  white  felspar,  with  minute  specks  of  a  black 
mineral,  of  pitchy  lustre,  composition  not  yet  deter 
mined. 

5.  Wolstenholme   and    Whale   Sounds,  lat.   77°   N., 
Greenland.  —  At  Wolstenholme  Sound  the  granitoid 
rocks  of  Greenland  become  converted  into  mica  slate 
and  actinolite  slate  of  a  remarkable  character.      The 
mica  slate  is  composed  of  large  plates  of  an  intimate 
mixture  of   black    and  white  mica,  the  chemical   ex 
amination  of  which  will  doubtless  prove  of  interest. 
These  plates  of  mica  are  separated  by  bands  of  pure 
white  felspar.     The  actinolite  slate  is  dark  green,  and 
formed   by  an  almost   insensible   gradation   from   the 
mica  slate.    In  the  low  ground  between  Wolstenholme 
and  Whale  Sounds,  the  granitic  rocks  cease,  and  are 
covered  by  deposits  of  fine  red   gritty  sandstone,  of  a 
banded  structure,  and  a  remarkable  coarse  white  con 
glomerate.     The  boundary  between  these  formations 


344  »  APPENDIX.  No.  IV. 

is  also  marked  by  the  development  of  masses  of  dolcr- 
ite  and  clayey  basalt. 

6.  Carey's  Islands,  76°  40'  N.,  Greenland,  lie  to  the 
westward  of  Wolstenholme  Sound,  and  are  composed 
of  a  remarkable  gneissose  mica  schist,  formed  of  suc 
cessive    thin    layers    of    quartz    granules,    containing 
scarcely  any  felspar,  and  layers  of  jet  black  mica,  with 
occasional    facets  of  white    mica.     This   mica    schist 
passes  into  a  white  gneiss,  composed  of  quartz,  white 
felspar,  and  black  mica,  penetrated  by  veins,  coarsely 
crystalised,  of  the  same  minerals.     Yellow  and  white 
sandstones   are   also  found   in   small  quantity  on   the 
islands,  reposing  upon  the  granitoid  rocks. 

7.  Capes   Osborn  and   Warrender,  lat,  74°  30'   N., 
North  Devon. —  The   granitoid    rocks    between   these 
two  capes  are  composed  of  graphic  granite,  consisting 
of  quartz  (grey)  and  white  felspar;  this  graphic  granite 
passes  into  a  laminated  gneiss,  consisting  of  layers  of 
black   mica    and  white    translucent   felspar,  sparingly 
mixed  with  quartz :  with  the  gneiss  are  interstratified 
beds  of  garnetiferous  mica  slate,  consisting  of  quartz, 
pale  greenish  white  felspar,  black  and  white  mica  in 
minute  spangles,  and  crystals  of  garnet,  rose-colored, 
disseminated  regularly  through  the  mass.     Quartzifer- 
ous  bands  of  epidotic  hornstone  occur  with  the  forego 
ing  beds;  and  the  whole  series  is  overlaid  by  red  sand 
stones,  of  banded   structure,  which  bear  a  striking  re 
semblance  to  those  that  overlie  the  granitoid  beds  of 
Wolstenholme  Sound. 

8.  North  Somerset.  —  The  granitoid  rocks  are  found 
again  on  the  west  side  of  the  island  of  North  Somerset, 
where  1hey  form  the  eastern  boundary  of  Peel  Sound. 
Boulders  of  granite   are   found   at  a  considerable  dis 
tance  (100  miles)  to  the  north-eastward  of  the  rock  in 


No.  IV.  APPENDIX.  345 

situ,  as  at  Port  Leopold,  Cape  Rennell,  etc.  The  gen 
eral  character  of  the  granitic  rocks  in  the  north  and 
west  of  North  Somerset  are  thus  described  by  Captain 
M'Clintock:  — 

"  Near  Cape  Rennell  we  passed  a  very  remarkable 
rounded  boulder  of  gneiss  or  granite ;  it  was  6  yards  in 
circumference,  and  stood  near  the  beach,  and  some  15 
or  20  yards  above  it ;  one  or  two  masses  of  rounded 
gneiss,  although  very  much  smaller,  had  arrested  our 
attention  at  Port  Leopold,  as  then  we  knew  of  no  such 
formation  nearer  than  Cape  Warrender,  130  miles  to 
the  north-east ;  subsequently  we  found  it  to  commence 
in  situ  at  Cape  Granite,  nearly  100  miles  to  the  south 
west  of  Port  Leopold. 

"  The  granite  of  Cape  Warrender  differs  considera 
bly  from  that  of  North  Somerset ;  the  former  being  a 
graphic  granite,  composed  of  grey  quartz  and  white 
felspar,  the  quartz  predominating;  while  the  latter,  or 
North  Somerset  granite,  is  composed  of  grey  quartz, 
red  felspar,  and  green  chloritic  mica,  the  latter  in  large 
flakes  ;  both  the  granite  and  gneiss  of  North  Somerset 
are  remarkable  for  their  soapy  feel."  * 

To  the  east  of  Cape  Bunny,  where  the  Silurian 
limestone  ceases,  and  south  of  which  the  granite  com 
mences,  is  a  remarkable  valley  called  Transition  Val 
ley,  from  the  junction  of  sandstone  and  limestone  that 
takes  place  there.  The  sandstone  is  red,  and  of  the 
same  general  character  as  that  which  rests  upon  the 
granitoid  rocks  at  Cape  Warrender  and  at  Wolsten- 
holme  Sound.  Owing  to  the  mode  of  travelling,  by 
sledge  on  the  ice,  round  the  coast,  no  information  was 
obtained  of  the  geology  of  the  interior  of  the  country, 

*  Journal  of  the  Royal  Dublin  Society,  1857. 


346 


APPENDIX. 


No.  IV 


1 1 


but  it  appears  highly  probable  that 
the  granite  of  North  Somerset,  as 
well  as  that  of  the  other  localities 
mentioned,  is  overlaid  by  a  group 
of  sandstones  and  conglomerates, 
on  which  the  Upper  Silurian  lime 
stones  repose  directly.  A  low, 
sandy  beach  marks  the  termination 
of  the  valley  northwards,  and  on  this 
beach  were  found  numerous  pebbles, 
washed  from  the  hills  of  the  interi 
or,  composed  of  quartzose  sandstone, 
carnelian,  and  Silurian  limestone. 
The  accompanying  sketch  was  made 
by  Captain  M'Clintock,  on  the  spot, 
in  1849,  and  afterwards  finished  by 
Lieutenant  Browne.  It  represents 
the  island  called  Cape  Bunny,  which 
forms  the  eastern  headland  of  the 
entrance  of  the  now  famous  Peel 
Sound,  down  which  the  '  Erebus ' 
and  i  Terror '  sailed,  three  years  be 
fore  it  was  visited  by  Sir  James  C. 
Ross  and  Lieutenant  M'Clintock,  in 
their  first  sledge  journey  on  the  ice. 
Cape  Granite  is  the  northern  bound 
ary  of  the  granite,  which  retains  the 
same  character  as  far  as  Howe  Har 
bor.  It  is  composed  of  quartz,  red 
felspar,  and  dark  green  chlorite  ;  and 
is  accompanied  with  gneiss  of  the 
same  composition.  I  have  in  my 
possession  a  specimen  of  this  gran- 


No.  IV,  APPENDIX.  34? 

ite,  found  as  a  pebble  at  Graham  Moore  Bay,  Bath- 
urst  Island,  S.W.,  a  locality  135  knots  distant  from 
Cape  Granite,  to  the  N.W. 

9.  Bellows  Straits,  lat.  72°  N.,  separate  North  Somer 
set  from  Boothia  Felix.  The  <  Fox '  Expedition  win 
tered  here  in  1858,  and  had  abundant  means  of  ascer 
taining  the  geological  structure  of  the  neighborhood. 
The  junction  of  the  granitoid  and  Silurian  rocks  occurs 
in  these  straits,  the  low  ground  to  the  east  being  hori 
zontal  beds  of  Silurian  limestone,  while  on  the  west 
the  granite  hills  of  West  Somerset  rise  to  a  height  of 
1600  feet  above  the  narrow  straits.  The  granite  here 
is  of  three  varieties. 

a.  Blackish  grey,  fine  grained,  gneissose  granite,  com 
posed  of  quartz,  white  felspar,  and  large  quantities  of 
fine  grains  and  flakes  of  hornblende,  passing  into  black 
mica.  The  gneissose  beds  of  this  granite  dip  13°  S.E. 

|3.  A  red  granite,  graphic  texture,  composed  of  quartz 
and  red  felspar,  coarse  grained. 

7.  Syenite,  composed  of  honey-yellow  felspar  and 
hornblende,  in  very  large  crystals,  the  felspar  passing 
into  red  and  pink,  and  the  whole  rock  mass  penetrated 
by  veins  of  the  same  material,  but  fine  grained.  This 
variety  of  igneous  rock  was  met  with  principally  at 
Pemmican  Rock,  western  inlet  of  Beliefs  Straits. 
Large  quantities  of  hornblende  are  also  met  with  at 
Leveque  Harbor,  Bellot's  Straits,  composed  of  facetted 
crystals  agglutinated  together  into  large  masses,  form 
ing  a  crystalline  hornblendic  gneiss. 

10.  Pond's  Bay,  Baffin's  Bay,  lat.  72°  40'  N.— In 
this  locality  a  quartziferous  black  mica  schist  underlies 
the  Silurian  limestone,  and  is  interstralified  with  gneiss 
and  garnetiferous  quartz  rock,  all  in  beds,  inclined  38° 
W.S.W.  (true). 


348  APPENDIX.  No.  IV 

11.  Montreal  Island,  mouth  of  the  Fish  River,  lat, 
67°  45'  N.  —  The  granitoid  rocks,  which  everywhere, 
in  the  Arctic  Archipelago,  underlie  the  Silurian  lime 
stone,  appear  at  Montreal  Island  as  a  gneiss,  composed 
of  bands  of  felspar  (pink)  and  quartz  (£  inch  thick), 
separated  by  thin  plates  composed  altogether  of  black 
mica;    the  whole  rock   exhibiting  the  phenomena  of 
foliation  in  a  marked  degree. 

The  east  side  of  King  William's  Island,  though 
composed  of  Silurian  limestone  like  the  rest  of  the 
island,  is  strewed  with  boulders  of  black  and  red 
micaceous  gneiss,  like  that  of  Montreal  Island,  and 
black  metamorphic  clay  slate,  in  which  the  crystals 
of  rnica  (qu.  Ottrelite)  are  just  commencing  to  be 
developed.  It  is  probable  that  the  granitoid  rocks 
appear  at  the  surface  somewhat  to  the  eastward  of 
this  locality. 

12.  Prince  of  Wales'  Island,  west  of  Peel  Sound.  — 
The  granitoid  rocks   extend  across   Peel   Sound  into 
Prince  of  Wales'  Island,  in  the  form  of  a  dark  syenite 
composed  .of  quartz,   greenish  white  felspar  passing 
into  yellow,  and  hornblende.     This  rock  is   massive 
and   eruptive   at   Cape   M'Clure,  lat,  72°  52'  N.,  and 
occasionally  gneissose,  as  at  lat.  72°  13'  N.     Between 
these  two  points,  at  lat.  72°  37'  N.,  a  limestone  bluff 
occurs   containing  the   characteristic    Silurian  fossils, 
and  is  succeeded  at  72°  40'  by  a  ferruginous  limestone, 
bright  red,  and  a  few  beds  of  fine  red  sandstone,  like 
those   observed  by   M'Clintock  at   Transition  Valley, 
North  Somerset,     The  entire  western  portion  of  Prince 
of  Wales'   Land  is  composed  of  Silurian   limestone, 
whJch  in  the  extreme  west,  at  Cape  Acworth,  becomes 
chalky  in  character  and  non-fossiliferous,  resembling 


No.  IV.  APPENDIX.  349 

the  peculiar  Silurian  limestone  found  on  the  west  side 
of  Boothia  Felix. 

II. —  The  Silurian  Rocks. 

The  Silurian  rocks  of  the  Arctic  Archipelago  rest 
everywhere  directly  on  the  granitoid  rocks,  with  a 
remarkable  red  sandstone,  passing  into  coarse  grit, 
for  their  base.  This  sandstone  is  succeeded  by  fer 
ruginous  limestone,  containing  rounded  particles  of 
quartz,  which  rapidly  pass  into  a  fine  greyish  green 
earthy  limestone,  abounding  in  fossils,  and  occasion 
ally  into  a  chalky  limestone,  of  a  cream  color,  for 
the  most  part  devoid  of  fossils.  The  average  dip 
of  the  Silurian  limestone  varies  from  0°  to  5°  N.N.W., 
and  it  forms  occasionally  high  cliffs,  and  occasionally 
low  flat  plains,  terraced  by  the  action  of  the  ice  as  the 
ground  rose  from  beneath  the  sea.  The  general  ap 
pearance  of  the  rocks  is  similar  to  the  Dudley  lime 
stone,  and  would  strike  even  an  observer  who  was  not 
a  geologist.  This  resemblance  to  the  Upper  Silurian 
beds  extends  to  the  structure  of  the  rocks  on  the  large 
scale.  Alternations  of  hard  limestone  and  soft  shale, 
so  characteristic  of  the  Upper  Silurian  beds  of  Eng 
land  and  America,  arranged  in  horizontal  layers,  give 
to  the  cliffs  around  Port  Leopold  the  peculiar  appear 
ance  which  has  been  described  by  different  Polar  navi 
gators  as  "  buttress-like,"  "  castellated  ;  "  this  appear 
ance  is  produced  by  the  unequal  weathering  of  the 
cliff,  which  causes  the  hard  limestone  to  stand  out  in 
bands.  Excellent  sketches  of  this  remarkable  appear 
ance,  drawn  by  Lieutenant  Beechey,  are  figured  at 
page  35  of  Parry's  First  Voyage,  '  Hecla '  and  '  Gri- 
par,'  1819-20.  The  Western  side  of  King  William's 
30 


350  APPENDIX.  So.  IV. 

Island  (now,  alas !  invested  with  so  sad  an  interest)  is 
a  good  example  of  the  low  terraced  form  which  the 
limestone  rocks  assume  at  times. 

The  following  lists  contain  the  names  of  the  princi 
pal  fossils  brought  home  by  Captain  M'Clintock:  — 

No.  I.  GARNIER  BAY  (Lat.  74°  N. ;  Long.  92°  W.) 

1.   Cyathophyllum  lielianthoides,  several  specimens. 

1.  IleUolites  porosa.     Gamier  Bay.     Another  specimen  from  near 

Cape  Bunny. 
?.  Specimens  of  carnelian,  gneiss,  chalcedony,  etc.,  etc.,  from  the 

shingle  near  Cape  Bunny. 

4.  Cromus  Arcticus,  several  specimens. 

5.  Atrypa  phoca  (Salter). 

6.  Atrypa  reticularis. 

7.  Brachiopoda  on  slab  (various). 

8.  Cyathophyllum. 

9.  Columnaria  Sutlierlandi  (Salter).     Several  specimens. 

No.  II.    PORT  LEOPOLD  (Lat.  73°  50' N.  5  Long.  90°  15'  W.). 

1.  Limestone  containing  numerous  fossils  of  the  Upper  Silurian 

type :  Calamopora  Gothlandica,  Goldf.  Rhynchonella  cuneata  ? 
Dalm.   Cyathophyllum,  sp. 

2.  Dark  earthy  limestone,  containing  multitudes  of  the  Loxonema 

M"  Clintocki,  as  casts  — 1100  feet   above  sea-level  on  North 
east  Cape. 

3.  Fine  specimens  of  selenite  from  shaly  beds  in  cliff. 

4.  Fibrous  gypsum  from  same. 

No.  III.  GRIFFITH'S  ISLAND  (Lat.  74°  35'  N. ;  Long.  95°  30' W.). 

1.  Beautiful  spct-imens  of  the  Cromus  Arcticus.     PI.  VI.  Fig.  5, 

Journ.  R.D.S.,Vol.  I. 

2.  Orthoceras  Griffitld.     PI.  V.  Fig.  1,  Journ.  R.D.S.,  Vol.  I. 

3.  An  Orthoceras  with  lateral  siphuncle,  and  simple  circular  out 

line  of  septa. 

4.  Loxonema  Rossi.     PI.  V.  Figs.  6,  8,  9,  10,  11,  Journ.  R.  D.  S., 

Vol.  I. 

5.  Numerous  specimens  of  crinoidal  limestone. 

6.  Strophomena  Donnetti  (Salter).     Sutherland's  Voyage;  PI.  V, 

Figs.  11,  12. 


No.  IV.  APPENDIX.  351 

7.  Atrypa  pJioca  (Salter).      PI.  V.  Figs.  3,  4,  7,  Journ.  R  D.  S., 

Vol.  I. ;  and  a  ribbed  Atrypa,  not  identified  with  European 
species,  and  undescribed. 

8.  An  undescribed  bryozoan  Zoophyte.      PI.  VII.  Fig.  6,  Journ. 

R..D.  S.,  Vol.  I. 
9    Calophyllum  Pliragmoceras  ( Salter) .    Sutherland ;  PI.  VI.  Fig.  4. 

10.  Syringopora  geniculala. 

11.  An  undescribed  species  of  Macrocheilus. 

No.  IV.  BEECHEY  ISLAND.  (Lat.  74°  40'  N. ;  Long.  92°  W.), 

1.  Orthoceras  (species). 

2.  Great  multitudes  of  Atrypa  pkoca,  forming,  in  fact,  a  dark- 

colored  earthly  Atrypa  limestone. 

3.  With  these  were  associated  many  species  of  Loxonema,  some 

times  so  abundant  as  to  form  a  pale  pink  and  whitish  Loxon 
ema  limestone. 
4:  A  species  of  ribbed  Atrypa. 

5.  Crinoidal  limestone  in  abundance. 

6.  Syringopora  reticulata. 

7.  Calophyllum  phragmoceras  (Salter).    Sutherland;  PL  VL  Fig.  4. 

8.  C yathophyllum  caxpitosum. 

9.  C  yathophyllum  articulatum  (Edwardes  and  Haime). 

10.  Calamopora  Gothlandica. 

11.  Calamopora  alveolaris. 

12.  FaoisteUa  FrankUni  (Salter).     Sutherland;  PI.  VI.  Fig.  3. 

13.  Clisiophyllum  Salteri.     Sutherland;  PI.  VI.  Fig.  7. 

14.  Cyathophyllum  (species). 

15.  Loxonema  Salteri,   described   by   Mr.    Slater    in   Sutherland's 

4  Voyage  to  Wellington  Channel;'  PL  V.  Fig.  19. 

This  is  a  fine  slab  of  limestone,  almost  together  composed  of 
the  remains  of  Loxonema  Salteri  and  Atrypa  phoca.  It  appears 
to  have  been  quietly  deposited  at  the  bottom  of  a  deep  sub 
marine  depression,  swarming  with  Pyramidellidse  and  deep- 
water  Brachiopoda.  The  physical  conditions  indicated  by  the 
fossils  are  also  rendered  probable  by  the  rock  itself,  which 
consists  of  fine  grey  limestone,  subcrystalline,  and  intimately 
blended  with  the  finest  and  most  delicate  description  of  mud, 
such  as  could  only  be  found  where  the  water  was  deep,  and  all 
currents  far  removed. 


052  »  APPENDIX.  No  IV. 

No.  V.   CORNWALLIS  ISLAND,  Assistance  Bay  (Lat.  74°40'N.; 
Long.  94°  W.). 

1.  Orthoceras  Ommaneyi  (Salter).    Sutherland ;  PI.  V.  Figs.  16, 17 

2.  Pentamerus  conchidium  (Dalman).     Sutherland;  PI.  V.  Figs. 

9,  10. 

3.  Pentamerus  limestone. 

4.  Cromus  Arcticus.     Journ.  R.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I.  PI.  VI. 

5.  Cardiola  Saltcri.     PL  VII.  Fig.  5.     Journ.  R.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I. 

6.  Syringopora  geniculata. 

No.  VL     CAPE  YORK,  Lancaster  Sound  (Lat  73°  50'  N. ; 

Long.  87°  W.). 

A  specimen  of  the  same  fossil  coral  which  I  have  named, 
doubtfully,  from  Beechey  Island,  as  Favosites  or  Calamopora 
Gothlandica ;  it  is  not  impossible,  however,  that  it  is  not  a  Calam 
opora  at  all,  but  a  species  of  Chsetetes. 

No.    VII.   POSSESSION  BAY,    South  entrance   into  Lancaster 

Sound  (Lat.  73°  30'  N. ;  Long.  77°  20'  W.). 
Specimens  of  brown   earthy  limestone,  with    a  fetid   smell 
when  struck  with  a  hammer;  resembles  closely  the  limestone  of 
Cape  York,  Lancaster  Sound. 

No.  VIII.  DEPOT  BAY,  Bellot's  Straits  (Lat.72°  N.;  Long.  94°  W.). 

1.  Maclurea  sp. 

2.  Cyathophyllum  helianthoides  (Goldfuss). 

The  limestone  at  this  locality  is  white  and  saceharoid,  with 
large  rhombohedral  crystals  of  calcspar. 

*  No.  IX.    CAPE  FARRAND,  East  side  of  Boothia  (Lat.  71°  38' ; 
Long.  93°  35'  W.). 

1.  Atrypaplwca  (Salter).     Sutherland;  PI.  V.  Fig.  3. 

2.  Laxonema  Rossi.     Journ.  R.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I.  PI.  V. 

3.  Atri/pa  (ribbed  sp.) 

4.  Calamopora  Gothlandica  (Goldfuss). 

5.  Cyrioce.ras  sp. 

The  rock  at  this  locality  is  a  grey  mud  limestone. 

*  Collected  by  Dr.  Walker,  surgeon  to  the  '  Fox '  Expedition. 


No.  IV.  APPENDIX.  353 

No.  X.  WEST  SHORE  OF  BOOTHIA  (Lat.   70°  to  71°  N.), 

containing  the  Magnetic  Pole. 

1.  Atrypa  phoca  (Salter). 

2.  Loxonema  Rossi.     Journ.  R.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I.  PI.  V. 

3.  Favistella  Franklini  (Salter).     Journ.  R.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I.  PL  XL 

4.  Loxonema  Salteri.     Sutherland;  PL  V.  Fig.  18. 

The  cream-colored  chalky  limestone  found  on  the  west  side  of 
Prince  of  Wales'  Island  here  occurs,  and  is  generally  destitute 
of  fossils,  like  that  of  Prince  of  Wales'  Land. 

*No.  XI.  FURY  POINT  (Lat.  72°  50' N.;  Long.  92°  W.). 

1.  Cromus  Arcticus.     Journ.  R.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I.  PL  VI. 

2.  Maclurea  sp. 

3.  Mya  rotundata  (?). 

4.  Stromaiopora  concentrica. 

5.  Cyatliopliyllum  helianthoides  (Goldfuss). 

6.  Petraia  bina. 

7.  Calamopora  Gothlandica  (Goldfuss). 

8.  Favorites  rnegasloma  (?). 

9.  Cyathophyttum  ccsspitosum. 

10.  Favistella  Franklini  (Salter).     Sutherland;  PL  VI.  Fig.  3. 

11.  'Strephodes  Austini  (Salter).     Sutherland;  PL  VI.  Fig.  6. 

12.  Atrypa  phoca  (Salter). 

The  limestone  here  is  of  the  same  grey  earthy  aspect  as  at 
Beechey  Island  and  Port  Leopold. 

f  No.  XII.    PRINCE   OF   WALES'  LAND   (Lat.  72°  38'  N. ; 
Long.  97°  15'  W.). 

1.  Cyathophyllum  sp. 

2.  Calamopora  Gothlandica  (Goldfuss). 

3.  Stromatopora  concentrica. 

These  fossils  occur  in  grey  earthy  limestone,  near  its  junction 
with  the  red  arenaceous  limestone  already  described. 

No.  XIII.    WEST  COAST  OF  KING  WILLIAM'S  ISLAND. 

1.  Loxonema  Rossi.    Journ.  R.  D.  S.,  Vol  I.  PL  V. 

2.  Catenipora  escharoides. 

3.  Orlhoceras  sp. 

*  Collected  by  Dr.  Walker,  surgeon  to  the  '  Fox  '  Expedition. 
t  Collected  by  Captain  Allen  Young. 

30*  x 


354  APPENDIX.  No   IV 

4.  Ufadurea  sp. 

5.  Atnjpa  sp. 

G.  lSi/ringopoi*a  geniculata. 
1.   Cli^iojjhijllum  sp. 
8.  Orthis  elegantula. 

III. —  T/j£   Carboniferous  Rocks. 

The  Upper  Silurian  limestones  already  described  are 
succeeded  by  a  most  remarkable  series  of  close-grained 
white  sandstones,  containing  numerous  beds  of  highly 
bituminous  coal,  and  but  few  marine  fossils.  In  fact, 
the  only  fossil  shell  found  in  these  beds,  so  far  as  i 
know,  in  any  part  cf  the  Arctic  Archipelago,  is  a  spe 
cies  of  ribbed  Atnjpa^  which  I  believe  to  be  identical 
with  the  Atrypa  fallax  of  the  carboniferous  slate  of 
Ireland.  These  sandstone  beds  are  succeeded  by  a 
series  of  blue  limestone  beds,  containing  an  abundance 
of  the  marine  shells  commonly  found  in  all  parts  of 
the  world  'where  the  carboniferous  deposits  are  at  all 
developed.  The  line  of  junction  of  these  deposits 
with  the  Silurians  on  which  they  rest  is  N.E.  to  E.N.E. 
(true).  Like  the  former  they  occur  in  low  flat  beds, 
sometimes  rising  into  cliffs,  but  never  reaching  the 
elevation  attained  by  the  Silurian  rocks  in  Lancaster 
Sound. 

The  following  lists  contain  the  principal  fossils 
and  specimens  presented  to  the  Royal  Dublin  Society 
by  Captain  M'Clintock  and  by  Captain  Sir  Robert 
M'Clure. 

Coal,  sandstone,  clay  ironstone,  and  brown  hematite,  were 
found  along  a  line  stretching  E.N.E.  from  Baring  Island,  through 
the  south  of  Melville  Island,  Byam  Martin's  Island,  and  the 
whole  of  Bathurst  Island.  Carboniferous  limestone,  with  char 
acteristic  fossils,  was  found  along  the  north  coast  of  Bathurst 
Island,  and  at  Hillock  Point,  Melville  Island. 


No.  IV.  APPENDIX.  355 

I  have  marked  on  the  map  the  coal-beds  of  the 
Parry  Islands,  which  appear  to  be  prolonged  into 
Baring  Island,  as  observed  by  Captain  M'Clure.  The 
discovery  of  coal  in  these  islands  is  due  to  Parry,  but 
the  evidence  of  the  extent  and  quantity  in  which  it 
may  be  found  was  obtained  during  the  expeditions  of 
Austin  and  Belcher.  In  addition  to  the  localities  sur 
veyed  by  himself,  Captain  M'Clintock  has  given  me 
specimens  of  the  coal  found  at  other  places  by  other 
explorers;  and  it  is  from  a  comparison  of  all  these 
specimens  that  I  have  ventured  to  lay  down  the  out 
crop  of  the  coal-beds,  which  agrees  remarkably  well 
with  the  boundary  of  the  formations  laid  down  from 
totally  different  data. 

No.  I.    HILLOCK  POINT,  Melville  Island  (Lat.  76°  N.;  Long. 

111°  45'  W.). 
Productus  sulcatus.    Journ.  R.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I.  PL  VIL  Figs.  1,  2,  3, 

4,  7. 
Spirifer  Arcticus.    Journ.  R.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I.  PL  IX. 

No.  II.    BATHURST  ISLAND,  North   Coast,   Cape  Lady 

Franklin  (?)  (Lat.  76°  40'  N.;  Long.  98°  45'  W.). 
Spirifer  Arcticus.  Journ.  R.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I.  PL  IX.  Fig.  1. 
Lithostrotion  basaltiforme. 

•No.  IK    BALLAST  BEACH,  Baring  Island  (Lat.  74°  30' N.; 
Long.  121°  W.). 

1 .  Wood  fossilized  by  brown  hematite ;  structure  quite  distinct. 

2.  Cone  of  the  spruce  fir,  fossilized  by  brown  hematite. 

No.  IV.    PRINCESS  ROYAL  ISLANDS,  Prince  of  Wales' Strait, 

Baring  Maud  (Lat.  72°  45'  N.;  Long.  117°  30'  W.). 
1.  Nodules  of  clay  ironstone,  converted  partially  into  brown  hema 
tite. 

*  These  specimens  are  "  Drift,"  but  are  mentioned  here  as  they  were 
found  on  the  carboniferous  sandstone  area. 


350  APPENDIX.  No.  IV, 

2.  Native  copper  in  large  masses,  procured  from  the  Esquimaux 

in  Prince  of  Wales'  Strait. 

3.  Brown  hematite,  pisolitic. 

4.  Greyish  yellow  sandstone,  same  as  Cape  Hamilton  and   Byam 

Martin's  Island. 

5.  Terebratula  aspera  (Schlotheim).  Journ.  R.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I.  PL  IX. 

Fig.  4. 

This  interesting  brachiopod  was  found  in  the  lime 
stone  by  Captain  M'Clure,  at  the  Princess  Royal  Isl 
ands,  in  the  Prince  of  Wales'  Strait,  between  Baring 
Island  and  Prince  Albert  Land.  I  have  no  hesitation 
in  pronouncing  it  to  be  identical  with  Schlotheim's 
fossil,  which  is  found  in  the  greatest  abundance  at 
Gerolstein,  in  the  Eifel.  Banks'  Land,  or  Baring  Isl 
and,  is  composed  of  sandstone,  similar  to  that  at  Byam 
Martin's  Island,  and  at  the  Bay  of  Mercy.  This  sand 
stone  contains  beds  of  coal,  apparently  the  continuation 
of  the  well-known  coal-beds  of  Melville  Island.  It  is 
a  remarkable  fact,  that  these  carboniferous  sandstones 
underlie  beds  of  undoubtedly  the  carboniferous  lime 
stone  type,  and  that  at  Byam  Martin's  Island,  where 
fossils  are  found  in  this  sandstone,  they  are  allied  to 
Atrypa  fallax  and  other  forms  characteristic  of  the 
lower  sandstones  of  the  carboniferous  epoch.  It  is, 
therefore,  highly  probable  that  the  coal-beds  of  Mel 
ville  Island  are  very  low  down  in  the  series,  and  do 
not  correspond  in  geological  position  with  the  coal-beds 
of  Europe,  which  rest  on  the  summit  of  the  carbonif- 
erous  beds.  It  is  interesting  to  find  at  Princess  Royal 
Island,  where,  from  the  general  strike  of  the  beds,  we 
should  expect  to  find  the  Silurian  limestone  underlying 
the  coal-bearing  sandstones,  that  this  limestone  does 
occur,  and  contains  a  fossil,  T.  aspera,  eminently  char 
acteristic  of  the  Eifelian  beds  of  Germany,  which  form, 
in  that  country,  the  Upper  Silurian  Strata. 


No.  IV.  APPENDIX.  357 

No.  V.  CAPE  HAMILTON,  Baring  Island  (ju^t.  74°  15'  N. ;  Long. 
11 7°  30'  W.). 

1.  Greyish-yellow  sandstone,  like  that  found  in  situ  in  Byam  Mar 

tin's  Island. 

2.  Coal.  —  The  coal  found  in  the  Arctic  regions,  excepting  that 

brought  from  Disco  Island,  West  Greenland,  which  is  of  ter 
tiary  origin,  presents  everywhere  the  same  characters,  which 
are  somewhat  remarkable.  It  is  of  a  brownish  color  and  lig- 
naceous  texture,  in  fine  layers  of  brown  coal  and  jet-black 
glossy  coal  interstratified  in  delicate  bands  not  thicker  than 
paper.  It  has  a  woody  ring  under  the  hammer,  recalling  the 
peculiar  clink  of  some  of  the  valuable  gas  coals  of  Scotland.  It 
burns  with  a  dense  smoke  and  brilliant  flame,  and  would  make 
an  excellent  gas  coal;  and,  in  fact,  it  resembles  in  many 
respects  some  varieties  of  the  coal  which  has  acquired  such 
celebrity  in  the  Scotch  and  Prussian  law-courts,  under  the 
title  of  the  Torbane  Hill  mineral. 

No,  VI.   CAPE  DUNDAS,  Melville  Island  (Lat.  74°  30'  N. ;  Long. 

113°  45'  W.). 
Fine  specimens  of  coal. 

No.  VII.    CAPE  SIR  JAMES  ROSS,  Melville  Island  (Lat,  74° 

45'  N.;  Long.  114°  30'  W.). 
Sandstone  passing  into  blue  quartzite. 

No.  VIH.  CAPE  PROVIDENCE,  Melville  Island  (Lat.  74°20'N.; 
Long.  112°30'W.). 

A  specimen  of  crinoidal  limestone,  apparently  similar  to  that  oc 
curring  in  Griffith's  Island,  from  which,  however,  it  could  not 
have  been  brought  by  the  present  drift  of  the  floating  ice,  as 
the  set  of  the  currents  is  constant  from  the  west.  If  brought 
to  its  present  position  by  ice,  it  must  have  been  under  circum 
stances  differing  considerably  from  those  now  prevailing  in 
Barrow's  Strait. 

Yellowish-grey  sandstone. 

Clay  ironstone  passing  into  pisolitic  hematite. 

No.  IX.   WINTER  HARBOR,  Melville  Island  <Lat.  74°  35' N.; 

Long.  110°  45'  W.). 
Fine  yellow  and  grey  sandstone. 


358  APPENDIX.  No.  IV. 

No.  X.    BRIDPORT  INLET,  Melville  Island  (Lat.  75°  N. ;  Long. 

109°  W.). 

Coal,  with  impressions  of  Sphenopteris. 
Ferruginous  spotted  white  sandstone. 
Clay  ironstone,  passing  into  brown  hematite. 

No.   XI.    SKENE   BAY,  Melville  Island   (Lat.    75°   N.;    Loag. 

108°  W.). 

Bituminous  coal,  with  finely  divided  laminae,  associated  with 
brown  crystalline  limestone,  with  cherty  beds,  and  grey- 
yellowish  sandstone,  passing  into  brownish-red  sandstone. 

No.  XII.  HOOPER  ISLAND,  Liddon's  Gulf,  Melville  Island  (Lat. 

75°  5'N. ;  Long.  112°  W.). 

Nodules  of  clay  ironstone,  very  pure  and  heavy,  associated  with 
ferruginous  fine  sandstone  and  coal  of  the  usual  description. 

The  hill-tops  and  sides  along  the  south  shore  of  Lid 
don's  Gulf,  and  as  far  as  Cape  Dundas,  are  generally 
bare,  composed  of  frozen  mud,  arising  from  the  disin 
tegration  of  shale,  the  annual  dissolving  snows  wash 
ing  them  down  and  giving  them  a  rounded  form.  The 
southern  slopes  generally  support  vegetation.  Frag 
ments  of  coal  are  very  frequently  met  with,  and  at  the 
mouth  of  a  ravine  on  the  south  shore  of  Liddon's  Gulf 
there  is  abundance,  of  very  good  quality;  it  contains  a 
considerable  quantity  of  pyrites  or  bisulphuret  of  iron. 

No.  XIII.    BYAM  MARTIN'S  ISLAND  (Lat.  75°  10'  N. ;  Long, 
104°  15'  W.). 

Yellowish-grey  sandstone,  in  M'/W,  containing  a  ribbed  Atrypa, 
allied  to  the  A.  primipilarix  of  V.  Buch,  and  the  A.fallax  of 
the  carboniferous  rocks  of  Ireland. 

Reddish  limestone,  with  broken  fragments  of  shells,  of  the  same 
description  of  brachiopod  as  the  last. 

Coal  of  the  usual  description. 

Fine-grained  red  sandstone,  passing  into  red  slate. 

S  coriaceous  hornblcndic  trap  (boulders). 


No  IV.  APPENDIX.  359 

The  sandstone  of  Byam  Martin's  Island  is  of  two 
kinds  —  one  red,  finely  stratified,  passing  into  purple 
slate,  and  very  like  the  red  sandstone  of  Cape  Bunny, 
North  Somerset,  and  some  varieties  of  the  red  sand 
stone  and  slate  found  between  Wolstenholme  Sound 
and  Whale  Sound,  West  Greenland,  lat.  77°  N.  The 
other  sandstone  of  Byam  Martin's  Island  is  fine,  pale- 
greenish,  or  rather  greyish-yellow,  and  not  distinguish 
able  in  hand  specimens  from  the  sandstone  of  Cape 
Hamilton,  Baring  Island.  It  contains  numerous  shells 
and  casts  of  a  terebratuliform  brachiopod,  closely  allied 
to  the  Terebratula  primipilaris  of  Von  Buch,  found 
abundantly  at  Gerolstein  in  the  Eifel.  On  the  whole, 
I  incline  to  the  opinion  that  the  sandstones,  limestone, 
and  coal  of  By&m  Martin's  Island,  are  the  correspond 
ing  rocks  of  Melville  Island,  Baring  Island,  and  Bath- 
urst  Island,  are  low  down  in  the  Carboniferous  System, 
and  that  there  is  in  these  northern  coal-fields  no  subdi 
vision  into  red  sandstone,  limestone,  and  coal-measures, 
such  as  prevails  in  the  west  of  Europe.  If  the  different 
points  where  coal  was  found  be  laid  down  on  a  map, 
we  have  in  order,  proceeding  from  the  south-west  — 
Cape  Hamilton,  Baring  Island ;  Cape  Dundas,  Mel 
ville  Island,  south ;  Bridport  Inlet  and  Skene  Bay, 
Melville  Island ;  Schomberg  Point,  Graham  Moore 
Bay,  Bathurst  Island  ;  a  line  joining  all  these  points  is 
the  outcrop  of  the  coal-beds  of  the  south  of  Melville 
Island,  and  runs  E.N.E.  At  all  the  localities  above 
mentioned,  and,  indeed,  in  every  place  where  coal  was 
found,  it  was  accompanied  by  the  greyish-yellow  and 
yellow  sandstone  already  described,  and  by  nodules  of 
clay  ironstone,  passing  into  brown  hematite,  sometimes 
nodular  and  sometimes  pisolitic  in  structure. 


360  APPENDIX.  No.  IV. 

No.  XIV.  GRAHAM  MOORE'S  BAY,  Bathurst  Is  .and  (Lat.  75° 

30'  N. ;  Long.  102°  W.). 
Coal  of  the  usual  quality. 

At  Cape  Lady  Franklin,  and  at  many  other  locali 
ties  along  the  north  shore  of  Bathurst  Island,  carbonif 
erous  fossils  in  limestone,  clay  ironstone  balls  passing 
into  brown  hematite,  cherty  limestone,  and  earthy  fos- 
siliferous  limestone,  with  the  same  species  of  Atrypa  as 
al  Byam  Martin's  Island,  were  found  in  abundance  by 
Sherard  Osborn,  Esq.,  Commander  of  H.M.S.  '  Pio 
neer/  in  whose  journal  the  following  note  respecting 
them  may  be  found  :  — 

"  The  above  collection  was  delivered  over  to  Captain 
Sir  Edward  Belcher,  C.B.,  by  Commander  Richards, 
at  2  P.M.,  on  7th  Nov.  1853."  * 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  they  may  soon  be  made  avail 
able  for  the  elucidation  of  the  geology  of  this  most 
interesting  portion  of  the  Arctic  discoveries. 

No.   XV.    BATHURST  ISLAND,   Bedford  Bay  (Lat.   75°  N.; 

Long.  95°  50'  W.). 

In  this  locality  abundance  of  vesicular  scoriaceous  trap  rocks 
were  found  by  Captain  M'Clintock ;  they  appear  to  me  to  be  the 
representatives  of  the  volcanic  rocks  found  everywhere  at  the 
commencement  of  the  carboniferous  period. 

No.  XVI.  CORNWALLIS  ISLAND,  M-Dougall  Bay. 

1.  Syrinyopora  geniculata.    Journ.  R.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I.  PI.  XI.  Fig.  2. 

2.  Cardiola  Salteri.     Journ.  R.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I.  PI.  VII.  Fig.  5. 

The  Syringopore  found  at  Cornwallis  Island  appears 
to  be  identical  with  the  variety  of  the  Irish  carbonife^- 
ous  S.  geniculata,  in  which  the  corallites  are  at  a  a:s- 
tance  from  each  other  somewhat  exceeding  their  diam- 

*  Vide  Arctic  Expeditions,  1854-55,  p.  254. 


No.  IV.  APPENDIX.  361 

eters,  and  in  which  the  connecting  tubes  are  about  two 
diameters  apart. 

A  question  of  very  considerable  geological  interest  is 
raised  by  the  occurrence  together  of  corals,  in  the  same 
locality,  of  silurian  and  carboniferous  forms. 

I  entertain  no  doubt  of  their  being  in  situ,  and  oc 
curring  in  the  same  beds,  for  the  following  reasons :  — 
1st.   The    Syringopores    of   Griffith's    Island    were 
found  at  an  elevation  of  400  feet  above  the  sea,  and, 
therefore,  could  not  be  brought  by  drifting  ice. 

2nd.  The  specimens  were  t  apparently  of  the  same 
texture  and  composition  as  the  native  rock,  whenever 
the  latter  was  visible  from  under  the  snow. 

3rd.  I  do  not  believe  in  the  lapse  of  a  long  interval 
of  time  between  the  silurian  and  carboniferous  depos 
its, —  in  fact,  in  a  Devonian  period. 

4th.  The  same  blending  of  corals  has  been  found  in 
Ireland,  the  Bas  Boulonnais,  and  in  Devonshire,  where 
silurian  and  carboniferous  forms  are  of  common  occur 
rence  in  the  same  localities. 

5th.  In  the  carboniferous  beds  proper  of  Melville 
Island  and  Bathurst  Island,  there  were  not  found,  so 
far  as  I  am  aware,  any  corals  of  the  same  character  as 
those  at  Griffith's  Island,  Cornwallis  Island,  and  Beechey 
Island,  which  could  give  a  supply  to  be  drifted  to  the 
latter  localities  in  a  Pleistocene  sea.  It  is  plain,  from 
the  height  at  which  the  corals  were  found  that,  if  they 
were  brought  to  their  present  localities  by  ice,  it  must 
have  been  during  the  period  known  as  Post-tertiary, 
as  the  present  conditions  of  drift-ice  in  Barrow's  Straits 
do  not  permit  us  to  suppose  them  to  have  been  placed 
where  we  now  find  them  by  existing  causes. 

The  occurrence  of  coal-beds  in  such  high  latitudes 
has  been  speculated  on  by  many  geologists  —  in  my 
31 


3G2  APPENDIX.  No.  IV. 

opinion,  not  very  satisfactorily ;  as  it  is  very  difficult 
to  conceive  how,  even  if  the  question  of  temperature 
was  settled,  plants  even  of  the  fern  and  lycopodium 
type  could  exist  during  the  darkness  of  the  long  win 
ter's  night  at  Melville  Island.  This  difficulty  is  in 
creased  by  the  facts  made  known  to  us  by  the  dis 
covery  of  ammonites  and  lias  fossils  in  Prince  Patrick's 
Island  by  Captain  M'Clintock. 

IV.  —  The  Lias  Rocks. 

Many  years  ago  it  was  asserted  by  Lieutenant  An- 
jou,  of  the  Russian  navy,  that  ammonites  had  been 
found  by  him  in  the  cliffs  on  the  south  shore  of  the 
island  of  New  Siberia,  off  the  north  coast  of  Asia,  in 
*at.  74°  N.  This  statement,  which  was  published  in 
Admiral  Von  WrangeFs  journal,  attracted  but  little 
attention,  until  it  was  confirmed,  as  far  as  probability 
of  such  fossils  occurring  at  so  high  a  latitude  is  con 
cerned,  by  the  remarkable  discovery  of  similar  fossils 
by  Captain  M'Clintock,  in  lat,  76°  20'  N.,  at  Point 
Wilkie,  in  Prince  Patrick's  Island. 

In  a  paper,  published  by  the  Royal  Dublin  Society, 
in  the  first  volume  of  their  journal,  p.  223,  Captain 
M'Clintock  thus  describes  the  finding  of  these  fossils: — 

"  After  returning  to  Cape  de  Bray,  we  took  up  the 
provisions  that  the  officer  after  whom  it  is  called  had 
left  for  us,  and  crossed  the  strait  to  Point  Wilkie  ; 
reached  it  on  the  14th  May.  This  traverse  was  the 
more  difficult  from  the  great  load  upon  our  sledge,  and 
the  unfavorable  state  of  the  ice  and  snow.  The  freshly 
fallen  snow  was  soft  and  deep,  and  beneath  it  the  older 
snow  lay  in  farrows  across  our  route,  hardened  and 
polished  by  the  winter  gales  and  drifts,  so  that  it  re 
sembled  marble. 


No.  IV.  APPENDIX.  363 

"  On  landing  I  found  the  beach  low,  composed  of 
mud,  with  the  foot-prints  of  animals  frozen  in  it.  A 
few  hundred  yards  from  the  beach  there  are  steep  hills, 
about  150  feet  in  height,  and  upon  the  sides  of  these, 
in  reddish-colored  limestone,  casts  of  fossil  shells 
abound.  Inland  of  these,  the  ordinary  pale  carbonif 
erous  sandstone  and  cherty  limestone  re-appeared.  The 
fossils  are  all  small,  and  of  only  a  few  varieties,  some 
being  ammonites,  but  the  greater  part  bivalves.  They 
differed  from  any  I  had  met  with  before,  and  the  rock 
was  almost  brick-red ;  I  picked  up  what  appeared,  to 
be  fossil  bone  (Ichthyosaurus?),  only  part  of  it  appear 
ing  out  of  the  fragment  of  the  rock. 

"  Point  Wilkie  appears  to  be  an  isolated  patch  of 
liassic  age,  resting  upon  carboniferous  sandstones  and 
limestones,  with  bands  of  chert,  of  the  same  age  as 
the  limestones  and  sandstones  of  Melville  Island.  The 
eastern  shores  of  Intrepid  Inlet  is  composed  of  this 
formation;  while  the  western,  rising  into  hills  and  ter 
races,  is  of  the  underlying  carboniferous  epoch.  At 
the  western  side  of  Intrepid  Inlet  I  found  upon  the  ice 
a  considerable  quantity  of  white  asbestos,  but  did  not 
ascertain  from  whence  it  had  been  brought." 

The  Jbssils  thus  found  in  situ,  I  have  no  doubt, 
belong  to  the  liassic  period;  and  as  their  geological 
interest  is  indubitable,  I  offer  no  apology  for  inserting 
here  the  following  description,  written  by  me  on  Cap 
tain  M'Clintock's  return  to  Dublin  from*  his  third  Arctic 
expedition. 

No.  1.     WILKIE  POINT,  Prince  Patrick's  Land  (Lat.  76°  20'  N. ; 
Long.  117°  20'  W.). 

LIAS   FOSSILS. 

(a)  Ammonites  M'Clintocki.    Journ.  R.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I.  PI.  IX.  Figs. 
2,  3,  4. 


364 


APPENDIX. 


No.  IV. 


Monotis  seplentrionalis.    Journ.  R.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I.  PL  IX.  Figs, 
6,7. 

Pleurotomaria,  sp.     Journ.  R.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I.  PL  IX.  Fig.  8. 

Cast  of  some  Univalve.    Journ.  R.  D.  S.,  Vol.  I.  PL  IX.  Fig.  7, 

Nucula,  sp. 

(a)  Ammonites  M'Clintocki  (Haughton). — Testa  compresm,  carin- 
ata,  anfractibus  latis,  lateribus,  complanatis,  transversim  undato-costatis  ; 
costis  simplicibus,  juxld  marginem  interiorem  levigatis  ;  dorso  carinato 
acuto ;  aperturd  sagittatd,  compressd,  antice  carinatd;  septis  lateribus 
4-lobatis. 

This  fine  ammonite  resembles  several  species  com 
mon  in  the  upper  lias  of  the  Plateau  de  Larzac,  Sev 
en  nes,-  in  France.  It  approaches  A.  concavus  of  the 
lower  Oolite,  but  is- distinguished  by  having  only  four 
lobes  on  the  lateral  margins  of  the  septa,  and  by  its 
showing  no  tendency  to  a  tricarinated  keel.  The  fol 
lowing  measurements  give  an  exact  idea  of  its  form, 
as  compared  with  that  of  the  species  mentioned :  — 


Diameter, 
Inches. 

Width  of 
last  Spire. 
Diam.=100. 

Thickness 
of  last 
Spire. 

Overlapping 
of  last 
Spire. 

'  Width 
of 
Umbilic. 

A.  M'GKntockij 

A.  concavus,     . 

1-83 
2-95 

£ 

TU  (7 
T(J<y 

rffr 

To  CT 
T()  (T 

The  principal  difference  here  observable  is  in  the 
somewhat  greater  size  of  A.  concavus,  and  the  larger 
umbilic  of  A.  M'Clintocki.  It  certainly  resembles  this 
well-known  ammonite  very  closely ;  and  it  appears  to 
me  difficult  to  imagine  the  possibility  of  such  a  fossil 
living  in  a  frozen,  or  even  a  temperate  sea. 

The  discovery  of  such  fossils  in  situ,  in  76°  north 
latitude,  is  calculated  to  throw  considerable  doubt 
upon  the  theories  of  climate  which  would  account  for 
all  past  changes  of  temperature  by  changes  in  the  rela- 


No.  IV.  APPENDIX.  365 

tive  position  of  land  and  water  on  the  earth's  surface. 
No  attempt,  that  I  am  aware  of,  has  ever  been  made 
to  calculate  the  number  of  degrees  of  change  possible 
in  consequence  of  changes  of  position  of  land  and 
water;  and  from  some  incomplete  calculations  I  have 
myself  made  on  the  subject,  I  think  it  highly  improb 
able  that  such  causes  could  have  ever  produced  a  tem 
perature  in  the  sea  at  76°  north  latitude  which  would 
allow  of  the  existence  of  ammonites,  especially  ammo 
nites  so  like  those  that  lived  at  the  same  time  in  the 
tropical  warm  seas  of  the  south  of  England  and 
France,  at  the  close  of  the  Liassic,  and  commence 
ment  of  the  lower  Oolitic  period. 

During  the  course  of  the  same  Arctic  expedition  in 
which  these  organic  remains  were  found,  Captain  Sir 
Edward  Belcher  discovered  in  some  loose  rubble,  of 
which  a  cairn  was  built  on  Exmouth  Island  (lat.  77° 
12'  N.,  long.  96°  W.),  vertebral  bones  of,  apparently, 
same  liassic  enaliosaurian.  All  doubt  as  to  the  realiiv 

9f 

of  this  discovery,  and  all  idea  of  accounting  for  the 
occurrence  of  such  remains  by  drift,  must  be  aban 
doned,  as  the  fossils  found  by  M'Clintock  were  unques 
tionably  in  situ,  and  it  is  impossible  to  evade  the  con 
sequences  that  follow  to  geological  theory  Irom  their 
discovery. 

Captain  Sherard  Osborn,  also,  found  broken  ver 
tebrae  of  an  ichthyosaurus,  150  feet  up  Rendezvous 
Hill,  the  north-west  extreme  of  Bathurst  Island :  of 
these  specimens,  one  lay  among  a  mass  of  stone  that 
had  slipped  from  the  N.  W.  face  of  the  hill ;  the  other 
was  by  the  side  of  a  ravine  or  deep  watercourse  on  the 
southern  face  of  the  same  elevation.  I  have  no  doubt 
but  that  they  were  in  situ. 

I  am  well  aware  that  the  question  of  light  in  the 
31* 


306  APPENDIX.  No.  IV. 


Arctic  seas  will  be  disposed  of  by  some  geologists, 
who  will  remind  us  that  the  saurians,  and  probably  the 
ammonites,  were  endowed  with  a  complicated  optical 
apparatus,  rendering  them  capable  of  using  their  eyes, 
not  only  for  the  distinct  vision  of  objects  differing 
greatly  in  distance,  but  also  of  using  them,  under 
widely  differing  conditions  of  light  and  darkness  ;  and 
I  readily  admit  the  force  of  such  observations. 

But  what  are  we  to  say  as  to  the  question  of 'tem 
perature  ?  It  was  certainly  necessary  for  an  ammonite 
to  have  a  sea  free  from  ice,  on  which  to  float  and  bask 
in  the  pale  rays  of  the  Arctic  sun  ;  and  therefore  I 
claim  a  temperature  for  those  seas,  at  least  similar  to 
that  which  now  prevails  in  the  British  Islands  :  and 
I  may  add  that  the  ammonite,  from  its  habits,  was 
essentially  dependent  on  the  temperature  of  the  ay:, 
as  well  as  on  that  of  the  water. 

There  is  at  present  a  difference  of  49°-5  F.  between 
the  mean  annual  temperature  of  Point  Wilkie  and 
Dublin;  and  if  this  change  of  temperature  be  supposed 
to  be  caused  by  a  change  of  the  relative  positions  of 
land  and  water,  the  temperature  of  Dublin,  or  of  some 
place  on  the  same  parallel  of  latitude,  must  be  sup 
posed  to  be  raised  to  99°-5  F. ;  while  the  temperature 
of  the  thermal  equator  will  exceed  124°  —  a  tempera 
ture  only  a  few  degrees  below  that  requisite  to  boil  an 
egg !  I  reject,  without  scruple,  a  theory  that  requires 
•such  a  result,  which  must  be  considered  as  a  minimum  ; 
as  it  is  probable  that  the  ammonite  required  a  finer  cli 
mate  than  that  of  Britain  for  the  full  enjoyment  of  his 
existence. 

The  theory  of  central  heat,  also,  appears  to  me  to  be 
open  to  the  same  objection,  as  a  mode  of  explaining 
this  remarkable  geological  fact ;  for  it  will  simply  a4d 


No.  IV.  APPENDIX.  3G7 

a  constant  to  our  present  climates,  leaving  the  differ 
ences  to  remain,  as  at  present,  to  be  accounted  for 
by  latitude  and  distribution  of  land  and  water.  The 
astronomical  theory  of  Herschel,  also,  which  would 
account  for  former  changes  of  climate  by  changes  in 
the  radiating  power  of  the  sun,  would  only  increase 
the  temperature  at  each  latitude,  leaving  the  differ 
ences  as  at  present. 

The  only  speculation  with  which  I  am  acquainted, 
which  is  capable  of  solving  this  opprobrium  geolog- 
icorum,  is  the  hypothesis  of  a  change  in  the  axis  of  ro 
tation  of  the  earth,  the  admission  of  which,  as  a  geo 
logical  possibility,  is  mathematically  demonstrable,  and 
which  has  recently  had  some  singular  evidence  in  its 
favor  advanced  by  geologists.  In  1851,  I  brought  for 
ward,  at  the  Geological  Society  of  Dublin,  a  case  of 
angular  fragments  of  granite  occurring  in  the  carbonif 
erous  limestone  of  the  County  Dublin  ;  and  explained 
the  phenomena  by  the  supposition  of  the  transporting 
power  of  ice.  In  1855,  Professor  Ramsay  laid  before 
the  Geological  Society  of  London  a  full  and  detailed 
theory  of  glaciers  and  ice  as  agents  concerned  in  the 
formation  of  a  remarkable  breccia,  of  Permian  age, 
occurring  in  the  central  counties  of  England  ;  and  still 
more  recently  the  same  agent  has  been  employed  by 
the  geological  surve)-™^  of  India  to  account  for  the 
transport  of  materials  at  geological  periods  long  ante 
cedent  to  those  in  which  ice  transport  is  commonly 
supposed  to  have  commenced.  The  motion  of  the 
earth's  axis  would  reconcile  all  the  facts  known,  and  it 
must  be  regarded  as  a  geological  desideratum  to  deter 
mine  its  amount  and  direction,  and  to  assign  the  cause 
of  such  a  movement.  The  solution  of  this  problem  I 
regard  as  quite  possible. 


368  APPENDIX.  No.  IV 

It  is  well  worthy  of  remark,  that  the  arguments  from 
the  occurrence  of  coal-plants  and  ammonites  strengthen 
each  other;  the  coal-plants  rendering  the  question  of 
light,  and  the  ammonites  that  of  heat,  insuperable  ob 
jections  to  the  admission  of  any  received  geological 
hypothesis  to  account  for  the  finding  of  such  remains, 
in  situ,  in  latitudes  so  high  as  those  of  Melville  Island, 
Prince  Patrick's  Island,  and  Exmouth  Island. 

V.  —  The  Superficial  Deposits. 

The  surface  of  the  ground,  where  exposed,  through 
out  the  Arctic  Archipelago,  does  not  appear  to  be 
covered  with  thick  deposits  of  clay  or  gravel,  such  as 
are  found  generally  in  the  north  of  Euorpe,  and  re 
ferred  by  geologists  to  what  they  call  "  the  Glacial 
Epoch."  There  are  not,  however,  wanting  abundant 
evidences  of  the  transport  of  drift  materials,  and  there 
is  some  good  evidence,  collected  by  Captain  M'Clin- 
tock,  of  the  direction  in  which  the  drift  was  moved. 

Specimens  of  granite,  which  I  have  no  hesitation  in 
referring  to  the  characteristic  granite  of  the  west  side 
of  North  Somerset,  were  found  at  Leopold  Harbor 
(North  Somerset)  and  at  Graham  Moore  Bay  (Bath- 
urst  Island) ;  one  of  these  localities  is  N.E.  and  the 
other  N.W.  of  the  granite  of  North  Somerset,  from 
which  I  infer  that  there  was  no  constant  prevailing 
direction  for  the  drift  ice  that  carried  these  boulders, 
but  that  they  were  transported  to  the  northward  in 
various  directions,  according  to  the  varying  motion  of 
the  currents  that  moved  the  ice.  The  boulder  of  gran 
ite  at  Port  Leopold  is  100  miles  N.E.  of  the  granite 
which  gave  origin  to  it ;  and  the  specimens  from  Gra 
ham  Moore  Bay  are  190  miles  to  the  N.W.  of  their 
source. 


No.  IV.  APPENDIX.  369 

At  Cape  Rennell  (North  Somerset),  in  a  direction 
intermediate  between  the  two  former  directions,  a  re 
markable  boulder  of  the  same  granite  was  found,  con 
firming  the  general  direction  of  the  transporting  force 
from  south  to  north.  Its  position  and  size  are  thus 
recorded  by  Captain  M'Clintock:  — "  Near  Cape  Ren 
nell  we  passed  a  very  remarkable  rounded  boulder  of 
gneiss  or  granite ;  it  was  6  yards  in  circumference,  and 
stood  near  the  beach,  and  some  15  or  20  yards  above 
it;  one  or  two  masses  of  rounded  gneiss,  although 
very  much  smaller,  had  arrested  our  attention  at  Port 
Leopold." 

It  is  well  known  that  Captain  Sir  Robert  M'Clure 
brought  home  specimens  of  pine-trees  found  in  the 
greatest  abundance  in  the  ravines  on  the  west  coast  of 
Baring  Island ;  one  of  his  specimens  preserved  in  the 
museum  of  the  Royal  Dublin  Society  measures  15 
inches  by  12  inches,  and  contains  three  knots  that 
prove  it  formed  a  portion  of  the  stem  high  above  its 
root.  The  bark  is  not  found  on  this  specimen,  which 
does  not  represent  the  full  thickness  of  the  tree ;  I  have 
estimated  that  this  fragment  contains  70  rings  of  an 
nual  growth. 

Similar  remains  were  found  by  Captain  M'Clintock 
and  Lieutenant  Mecham  in  Prince  Patrick's  Island, 
and  in  Wellington  Channel  by  Sir  Edward  Belcher. 
On  the  coast  of  New  Siberia,  Lieutenant  Anjou  found 
a  clay  cliff  containing  stems  of  trees  still  capable  of 
being  used  as  fiiel.  The  original  observers  all  agree 
in  thinking  that  these  trees  grew  where  they  are  now 
found ;  and  Captain  Osborne,  in  mentioning  Sir  Rod 
erick  I.  Murchison's  opinion  that  they  are  drift  timber, 
justly  adds  the  remark,  that  a  sea  sufficiently  free  from 
ice  to  allow  of  their  being  drifted  from  the  south  would 

Y 


370  APPENDIX.  No.  IV. 

indicate  also  a  climate  sufficiently  mild  to  allow  of 
their  having  grown  upon  the  land  where  they  now 
occur.  Mr.  Hopkins,  in  his  anniversary  address  as 
President  of  the  Geological  Society  of  London,  has 
published  a  remarkable  geological  speculation,  which 
would  account  for  the  facts  above  mentioned.*  So 
far  as  the  evidence  of  drift  boulders  is  concerned,  I 
have  shown  that  the  direction  of  the  currents  was  from 
the  south ;  a  fact  which  falls  in  with  the  drift  theory, 
so  far  as  it  goes. 

We  cannot,  however,  dissociate  these  trees  from  the 
facts  connected  with  the  distribution  of  the  remains  of 
the  Siberian  Mammoth  in  Asia  and  America.  It  is 
now  known  that  this  elephant  was  provided  with  a 
warm  fur,  and  that  his  food  was  of  a  kind  which  grows 
even  now  in  Northern  Siberia ;  so  that  the  drift  theory, 
which  was  formerly  supposed  necessary  to  account  for 
the  occurrence  of  these  remains,  has  now  been  quietly 
dropped,  sub  silentio,  by  the  geologists.  Many  other 
drift  theories  have,  in  like  mannner,  lived  their  short 
day,  and  gone  the  way  of  all  false  hypotheses ;  among 
others,  the  drift  theory  of  the  origin  of  coal.  Further 
investigation  may  show  that  the  glacial  epoch  of 
Europe  was  one  of  a  very  different  character  in  Asia 
and  America,  and  that,  while  glaciers  clothed  the  sides 
of  Snowdon  and  Lugnaquiliia,  pine  forests  flourished 
in  the  Parry  Islands,  and  the  Siberian  elephants  wan 
dered  on  the  shores  of  a  sea  washed  by  the  waves  of 
an  ocean  that  carried  no  drifting  ice. 

There  is  abundant  evidence,  however,  that  the  Arctic 
Archipelago  was  submerged  in  very  recent  geological 
periods ;  for  we  know  that  subfossil  shells,  of  species 

*  Journ.  Geol.  Soc.  Lend.,  vol.  VIII.  p.  Ixiv. 


No.  IV.  APPENDIX.  371 

that  now  inhabit  the  waters  of  the  neighboring  seas, 
are  found  at  considerable  heights  throughout  the  whole 
group  of  islands.  M'Clure  found  shells  of  the  Cyprina 
Islandicd)  at  the  summit  of  the  Coxcomb  range,  in 
Baring  Island,  at  an  elevation  of  500  feet  above  the 
sea-level ;  Captain  Parry,  also,  has  recorded  the  occur 
rence  of  Venus  (probably  Cyprina  Islandica)  on  Byarn 
Martin's  Island;  and  in  the  recent  voyage  of  the  '  Fox,' 
Dr.  Walker,  the  Surgeon  of  the  expedition,  found  the 
following  subfossil  shells  at  Port  Kenedy,  at  eleva 
tions  of  from  100  to  500  feet :  — 

1.  Saxicava  rugosa. 

2.  Tellina  proximo,. 

3.  Astarte  Arctica  (Borealis.) 

4.  Mya  Uddevallensis. 

5.  Mya  truncata. 

6.  Cardium  sp. 

7.  Buccinum  undatum. 

8.  Acmea  testudinalis. 

9.  Balanus  Uddevallensis. 

At  the  same  place  a  portion  of  the  palate-bone  of  a 
whale  (Right  Whale)  was  found  at  an  elevation  of 
150  feet. 

All  these  facts  indicate  the  former  submergence  of 
the  Arctic  Archipelago,  but  this  submergence  must 
have  been  anterior  to  the  period  when  pine  forests 
clothed  the  low  sandy  shores  of  the  slowly  emerging 
islands,  the  remains  of  which  forests  now  occupy  a 
position  at  least  100  feet  above  high-water  mark. 

The  geological  map  which  I  am  enabled  to  pub 
lish  from  the  data  collected  by  Captains  M'  Clintock, 
M'Clure,  Osborn,  &c.,  is  an  enlargement  of  that  which 
was  published  in  1857  by  the  Royal  Society  of  Dublin, 
to  illustrate  the  fine  collection  of  Arctic  fossils  and 


372  APPENDIX.  No.  IV 

minerals  deposited  in  the  museum  of  that  body  by 
Captains  M'Clintock  and  M'Clure.  In  perfecting  it 
for  its  present  purpose  I  have  availed  myself  of  all  the 
other  sources  of  information  within  my  reach,  among 
which  I  am  bound  to  mention  in  particular  the  ex 
cellent  Appendix  to  Dr.  Sutherland's  '  Voyage  of  the 
Lady  Franklin  and  Sophia/  written  by  Mr.  Salter, 
Palaeontologist  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  Great 
Britain. 

Many  of  the  mineral  specimens  from  Greenland, 
and  the  fossils  from  Cape  Riley,  Cape  Farrand,  Point 
Fury  and  Brentford  Bay,  were  collected  by  Dr.  David 
Walker,  surgeon  and  naturalist  to  the  '  Fox '  Expedi 
tion. 


No.  V. 


APPENDIX. 


373 


No.  V. 

LIST  OF  SUBSCRIBERS  TO  THE  'FOX'  EXPEDITION. 


ACLAND    Sir  T  D  Bart 

.£ 

100 

t, 
o 

d. 

o 

Grasp,   J.,  Esq.,  Surgeon    63rd 

£ 

s.  d. 

1 

g 

o 

Regt 

1 

0    0 

Aldrich    Captain    R  N 

1 

1 

0 

Crauford,  John,  Esq  

ft 

0    0 

Allan,  Rob.  M.,  Esq  
Allen,  Captain  Robert     

1 
B 

1 

B 

0 
0 

Cresswell,  S.  Gurney,  Comman 
der,  RN  

R 

0    0 

Allen   Captain   11  N 

') 

•> 

0 

Aines  Mrs  

B 

0 

0 

DVLGETY,  F.  T.,  Esq  

10 

10    0 

Ame?    Mias 

1 

o 

0 

DelaRoquette,  M.,  V.P  ofGeog. 

Anon  

•-, 

0 

o 

Soc.  of  Paris,  1000  fr  

40 

0    0 

Armstrong,  Mrs     

1 

1 

0 

Dilke,  C.  W.,  Esq  

r, 

0    0 

Armstrong,  children  of  Mrs.  .  .  . 
Arnold,  Mrs  

0 

i 

8 
1 

9 

o 

Dixon,  James,  Esq  
Doxat,  Alexis  J.,  Esq  

10 
10 

0    0 
10    0 

Arrowsmith,  John,  Esq  
Austin,   Uear-Adm.  Horatio  T. 

5 

0 

0 

Doxat,  Miss  II.,  collected  by.  .  . 
"  Dubious  "  

4 

0 

0    0 
2    6 

R.N.,  C.B  

5 

o 

o 

Dufieriii,  Lord  

(>r> 

0    0 

BABBAGE,  Charles,  Esq  

10 

0 

o 

EDGAR,  Mrs.,  collected  by.    .  . 

fi 

0    0 

Baikie   Dr 

1 

1 

o 

Elle^mere   the  Earl  of 

15 

0    0 

Baker,  Mrs  

5 

0 

o 

Elphinstone,   the  Hon.  Mount- 

Barkworth   Geo  ,  Esq 

^ 

o 

o 

Stewart 

10 

0    0 

Barras,  Miss  

TJ 

1 

0 

Elton,  Sir  Arthur  H..  Bart  

5 

5    0 

Barrett   II  J.,  Ksq 

1 

o 

o 

Emanuel,  Ezekiel  Esq 

1 

0    0 

Barrow,  John,  Esq  

25 
1 

0 

it 

0 

0 

FAIRHOLME  the  Hon.  Mrs. 

TiO 

0    0 

Barth   Dr  Henry 

r, 

5 

o 

Filliter  George   Esq 

10 

0    0 

Bath,  W.  J.  C.,  'Esq  

0 

2 

r, 

Fitton,  Dr 

*>! 

0    0 

Batty   Mr<<  J   M 

1 

1 

o 

Fortescue  Rev  T   £  G 

9 

2    0 

Beaufort,  Rear-Adm.  Sir  Fran 
cis  KGB 

r.o 

o 

o 

1 

1    0 

Bell,  Thos.,  Esq.,  Pres.  Lin.  Soc. 

10 

10 

0 

Gassiot,  J.  P..  Esq  

?5 

0    0 

Bennett,  John  S.,  Esq  

ft 

0 

o 

Gimingham,  W.,  Esq.,  &  Mrs.  . 

?, 

2    0 

Birch,  J.  W.  N.,  Esq  

10 

0 

o 

Gipps,  Lady  

5 

0    9 

Bird,  Captain,  R.N  

B 

0 

0 

Goweu,  J.  R.,  Esq  

5 

0    0 

Birmingham,  small    sums  col 

Graves,  Messrs.  Pall  Mall  

1 

1    0 

lected  at  Evans'  Library. 

1 

1 

o 

Griffiths,  G.  H  ,  Esq 

B 

5    0 

Booth    Mrs 

r} 

o 

o 

1 

1    0 

Bortou,  Mrs.,  collected  by.  .  .   . 

1 

10 

0 

Gruneisen,  Mrs  

1 

1    0 

Boston,    collected    at,    by  Mr. 
Morton  

4 

4 

o 

Guillemard,  the  Rev.  W.  H.  .  .  . 
Guillemard,  Miss  

5 
1 

0    0 
0    0 

Bovill   Walter  Esq 

r, 

o 

0 

Boyer,  Lieut.  R.N  

0 

10 

o 

HALL,  Jas.,  Esq  

5 

0    0 

Boyle   the  Hon.  Carolina  C.  . 

1 

o 

o 

1 

1    0 

1 

-\ 

o 

o 

10    0 

Brine,  Captain,  R.E  

1 

1 

o 

Hardwicke  Philip,  Esq  

5 

0    0 

Brooking,  J.  Holdsworth,  Esq.. 
Brown,  Robert,  Esq.,  V.P.L.S.. 

10 
90 

0 

o 

0 
0 

Harney,  Julian,  Esq.,  collected 

RO 

0    0 

5 

5 

0 

Ileales  Alfred   Esq 

^ 

5    0 

Brown,  J.  E.,  Esq.,  R.N  

0 

B 

o 

a 

2    0 

Bruce,  the  Rev.  C. 

1 

1 

o 

Hicks  John    Esq 

9 

0    0 

BurgO}"ne,  Captain,  R.N  

1 

0 

o 

Hill,  Col.  63rd  Regt  

1 

0    0 

Burton,  Alfred,  Esq       .  . 

1 

1 

o 

10 

0    0 

Byron,  the  Hon.  Fred  

5 

0 

o 

Holland,  Commander,  R.N  

6 

0    0 

2 

2    0 

CHESNEY,  Major-General 

9 

o 

o 

Holland   Rob     Esq 

10 

10    0 

Collinson,  Captain,  R.N.,  C.B.  . 

20 

0 

fl 

Hooker,  Dr.  J.  D  

5 

5    0 

Coningham,   W.,  Esq.,  M.P  
Coote,C.  W.,  Esq  

Coote,  Charles,  Esq  

100 
1 

10 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

n 

Hornby,  Miss  Georgina  
Hornby,  the  Rev.  Edward  
Hornby    Mrs   Edmund  

100 
25 

Fl 

0    0 
0    0 
0    0 

Courtauld  Samuel    Esq 

')rl 

o 

o 

Courtauld,  Goorgn,  Esq  

15 

o 

o 

lected  by     

13 

4    0 

Coutts,  Messie.  &  Co... 

BO 

0 

0 

Hovell.  W.  H.  Esq... 

5 

5    0 

374 


APPENDIX. 


No.  V. 


Hughes,  Lieutenant,  R  N. 


INGLIS,  Lady 

Irby,  T.  W.,  Esq.  .. 


£    s. 
2    0 


JAOKSON,  N.  Ward,  Esq. . , 

Janson,  J.  C.,  Esq 

.Jeanes,  II.  W.,  Esq.,  R  N. 
Jersey  " Times" 


KELLETT.  Commodore,  C.B 

Kendall.  Mrs 

Kendall,  the  Rev.  Professor. . . . 

Key,  Lieut.,  R.N 

King,  William,  Esq 

LAIHD,  Maegregor,  Esq 

Laird.  John.  Esq 

L.  and  N.  W 

Lanford.  J.,  Esq.,  Quartermas 
ter  63rd  Regiment 

Langhorne.  A.,  Esq 

Larcom,  Mrs 

Leach,  William,  Esq 

Le  Feuvrc,  W.  J.,  Esq 

Lefroy.  C.  E.,  Esq 

Leicester,  the  Rev.  F 

Lethbridge,  Lieut.,  R.N 

"  Lochmaben  Castle."  Owners 
of  the 

Lyall,  D.  Esq.,  R.N.,  M.D 

MACKINTOSH.  Eneas,  Esq 

Maguire,  Captain,  R.N 

Muitland,  Capt.  SirThos.,  R.N. 
Majendie,  Ashhurst,  Esq.,  and 

Mrs 

Servants  of  the  above 

Malby,  Messrs 

Malby,  Messrs.,  Workmen  in 

their  Establishment  by  a  6rf. 

Subscription 

Mansfield.  W.  H.  S.,  Esq 

Manteil,  Dr  A.  A 

Mark  ham,  Clements,  Esq 

Markman,  Mrs 

M-Crea,  Captain,  R.N 

M'Kinlay,  Miss 

M'Kinlay,  Miss  Elizabeth 

M' William,  Dr.  R.N 

Merry.  W.  L.,  Esq 

Morris,  Rev.  F  B 

Morris.  Sir  Armine.  Bart 

Murchison,  Sir  Roderick  Impey, 

G.C.St.S.,     President    of    the 

Royal  Geographical  Society . . . 
Murray,  John,  Esq 

NA.RES,  Fras.,  Esq 

Newall,  W.  L.,  E.sq 

Nicholson,  Sir  Charles 

N.  J 

Norwood,  collected  at,  by  a 
Lady 

OMMANNEY,  Capt.  Erasmus,  R.N. 
,  Sir  George,  Bart 


21  0 
6  5 
0  10 
2  10 

10    0 


1  0 

1  0 

0  5 

5  0 


50  0 

25  0 

1  4 

0  10 

1  1 

1  0 
5  5 

50  0 

2  0 
1  1 
0  5 

5  5 

5  0 


PAGET,  A.  F.,  Esq  ........... 

Paget,  C.  H.  M.,Esq  .......... 

Palsey,  Gen.  Sir  Charles  W., 

K.C.B  ...................... 

Second  Subscription  ......... 

Third  Subscription  .......... 

Pattinson,  II.  L.,  Esq  .......... 

Pearce,  Stephen,  Esq 


£  s.  d 
010  6 
110 

10    0    0 


0    0 
0    0 


Phillimore,  Captain,  R.N 220 

Pigou,  Fred.,  Esq 10    0    0 


Prescott,  Vice-Adniiral  Sir  Hen 
ry,  K.C.B  ............  .  ...... 


RAWNSLEY,  the  Rev.  Drummond 

Rawsnley,    Mrs.,    collected    by 

llawnsley,  William  Franklin, 
collected  by,  at  Uppiugham 
School 

Raynsford,  Mrs 

Reynardson,  II.  B.,  Esq 

Roirers.  Lieut.,  R.N 

Roget,  Dr.  P.  M 

Roper,  Geo..  Esq. .. 


500 


0    0 
0    0 


0  10  0 
110 
500 
100 
500 


550 

Ross,  Rear-Admiral  Sir  Jas.  C. .     21    0    0 
Rupert's  Land,  Bishop  of 5    0    0 


S  \BINE,  Major-General.. , 

X     Sadler,  W.  F.,  Esq 

I  Sefton,  the  Countess  of. 
A     Shearley,  W.,  Esq 


10    0    0 


100  0 
0  14 
5  0 


4  11 

0  10 

1  0 

1 
0 
10 
0 
0 
1 
1 

0 

5  0 


100  0 

20  0 

2  2 

100  0 

6  0 
2  2 

7  15 


Sheil,  Sir  Justin.. 

Shewell,  John  Tulmin,  Esq 

Simpson,  J.,  Esq.,  R.N  

Skey,  Dr. 


Smith,  Eric  E..  Esq 

Smith,  John  Henry,  Esq 

Smith,  Osborn,  Esq 

Smith.  Archibald,  Esq 

Sparrow,  Jas.,  Esq 

St.  Asaph,  the  Bishop  of. 

St.  David's,  the  Bishop  of. 

St.  Selgcr,  A.  B 

Stainton,  J.  J.,  Esq 

Statham.  J.  L.,  Esq 

Steplienson,  Robert,  Esq 

Stirling.  Commander,  R.N. .» . . 

Strzelecki,  Count  P.  de 

Swinburne,  Rear-Admiral 

Sykes,  Col.,  M.P 

TAYLOR,  William,  Esq 

Tennant,  James,  Esq 

T.  H.,  collected  in  shillings  by. 

Thackeray,  W.  M .,  Esq 

|  Thompson,  J.,  Esq 

n  I  Tindal,  Commander,  R.N 

X  I  Tinney,  W.  II.,  Esq.,  Q.C 

0  I  Tite,  W.,  Esq.,  M.P 

j  Trevelyan,  Sir  W.  C.,  Bart 

0  I  Trevelyan,  Lady 

0  Trevilian,  M  C.,  Esq 

0  |  Trollope,  Cammander,  R.N 

0  i  Tuckett,  Fred.,  Esq 

I  Tudor,  J.,  E<q 

0  |  Turner,  Alfred,  Esq 

Tweedie,  W.  M.,  Esq 


VINCENT,  John, 


25    0    0 

10  10    0 

10    0    0 

200 

500 

550 

1  10    0 

220 

200 

10  10    0 

220 

560 

500 

10    0    0 

10    0    0 

500 

330 

1    1    0 

20    0    0 

0  10    0 

25    0    0 

30    0    0 

500 

5  0  0 
200 
200 
5  3  0 
113 
220 
20  0  0 
50  0  0 
40  0  0 
10  0  0 
220 
220 
509 

0  10    0 
15    0    0 

500 

1  0    0 


No.  V. 


APPENDIX. 


875 


WALKER,  James,  Esq 

Washington,  Captain,  R.N.,  Hy- 

drographer  of  the  Navy 

Waterfield,  Edward,  Esq 

Wayse,  the  Rev  J.  W 

Weld,  Charles  II..  Esq 

Wheatstone,  Professor 

Willes,  Hon.  Mr.  Justice 

Wilson,  Robert,  Esq 

Wit.tenoorn,   Mess 

Wodehouse,  Commander 

Woodcock,  J.  Parry,  Esq 

Worsley,  Marcus,  Esq 

Wright,  the  Rev.  R.  F 

Wrottesley,  Lord 


£  s.d, 
21  0  0 

21  0  0 
500 
500 
600 
600 


0  0 


116 
110 

0  10  0 
500 

10  0  0 
220 

60  0  0 


YODNO,  Chas.  F.,  Esq 600 


£    ».  A. 

Young,  Miss ....  500 

Young,  A.  Verity,  Esq 220 

Yule,  Mrs.  H 600 

The  brother  an*  sisters  of  the 
late  John  and  Thomas  Hart- 
nell,  of  H.M.S.  •  Erebus,' 

buried  at  Beechey  Island 500 

A  Commander,  R  N 050 

A  Commander  in  the  Merchant 

Service 600  0  0 

A  Friend.    C.  H 050 

A  Friend 100 

The  daughters  of  a  retired  Com 
mander , 200 

A  Sympathiser 100 

£2981    8    9 


A  life-boat,  presented  by  Messrs.  White  of  Cowes. 

A  large  quantity  of  preserved  potatoes,  by  Messrs.  King,  late  Edwards. 

Apparatus  for  lowering  a  boat  at  sea,  presented  by  Mr.  Clifford,  the  inventor. 

Three  travelling-tents,  by  Messrs.  Winsor  and  Newton. 

A  stove,  by  Mr.  Rettie. 

20  dozen  "  Isle  of  Wight  sauce,"  by  Mr.  Tucker  of  Newport. 

Apparatus  for  reefing  topsails,  from  Mr.  Cunningham,  the  inrtntor. 


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3  Dec  5  2  S5 

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V^1 

1  HIM  2  5  1990 

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